


Becoming Brave

by Galaxa13



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Novelization, Pacifist Route
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2016-01-02
Packaged: 2018-05-06 10:27:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 34,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5413346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galaxa13/pseuds/Galaxa13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a child runs off to prove themselves they get a lot more than they bargained for.</p>
<p>This is a novelization of the pacifist route in Undertale. Most of the dialogue will be lifted straight from the game, save for any of Frisk's lines and a few others to keep things moving and cohesive. I hope you enjoy my take on Frisk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

     _"Hey, Frisk!"_

     _". . . Go away."_

     _"Oh? What are you going to do about it if I don't?"_

     _". . ."_

     _"That's right,_ nothing. _Or maybe you're gonna run off and tattle on me again?"_

     _"It's not tattling if the other person's being a jerk. . ."_

     _"Why do you always have to be such a_ baby _about everything? Gosh!"_

     _"I'm not a baby!"_

     _"Oh really?_ Prove it _!"_

     _"How?"_

     _"_. . . Go climb Mt. Ebott. _"_

     _"Mt. Ebott. . .?"_

     _"Yeah, you've heard the stories, right? Anyone who goes up there_ never comes back _. Only a_ really _brave person would ever go there!"_

    That was this morning. You've been thinking about what they said all day. You're always getting picked on in class and you're tired of it. That's why you didn't go home after school, that's why you're standing at the base of the mountain right now. You're a little nervous as you stand there. No one ever comes by the mountain and even if they do they don't go much farther than where you are right now. The whole place just seems like bad luck. You could always turn around and go home right now, forget about this whole plan, deal with your mom chewing you out for not coming home like you should have, but the thought makes you clench your fists. No. You're determined to go through with this. You'll prove to everyone that you're not a baby, that you can be brave! It's just a dumb mountain, who cares what people say about it? Those are just stories to scare little kids, which you're not!

     You take a step. Then another. You continue to push forward up the non-existent path. All you have to do is get to the top and then come right back down. It's not _that_ big of a mountain, you can do this! You're going to get into so much trouble when you get back, but it'll be worth it! No one will pick on your anymore after you do this. In fact, this might just make you the coolest kid in school! No one else has ever done this before. Everyone else are the big babies! This isn't so bad! The mountain's kind of beautiful, and so far it's been pretty easy going! You find yourself starting to smile as you look around. It's sort of nice here. You don't know why everyone is so scared of this place. Along the way you pick up a stick and lazily swing it around to amuse yourself.

     Up ahead, through some trees, you see an opening to a cave. Curious you step closer and peer inside. It's pretty open with plenty of light spilling through the entrance. Not damp or dark like in a scary story. You step inside to explore a bit, a thrill of adventure surging through you. As you go further inside you find that it's _much_ bigger than you previously thought. Vines grow all over the floor and as you travel further in it gets chillier. Glancing over your shoulder you make sure. . . Well, you're not sure _what_ you're making sure of. Light is still coming through the way you came in and there's nothing around. Turning back you see stalagmites and stalactites forming further ahead. As you approach them you see a giant hole opening below the biggest stalactites. . . Or are they stalagmites? You always get them confused.

     The vines are growing over the lip of the hole. Stepping up to the edge you peer down into it. You can see some flowers down below! Getting on your hands and knees you lean down closer to get a better look. Suddenly, the rock under your hands breaks away and your whole body pitches downwards. With a cry you fall down into the hole, tumbling in the air as you go. You land on the bed of flowers with a thud that knocks the wind out of you. You struggle for breath for a couple of terrifying seconds before your lungs start working again. Various parts of your body ache as you slowly get to you feet. It's darker down here.

     You turn your head up and gaze at the hole you just stupidly fell through. It's far away, too far to climb. There's a pain in your chest that has nothing to do with your forming bruises. You have to find a way out of here! You should have been more careful! Why did you think sticking your head down a big hole was a good idea? Why did you even go in that stupid cave? All you had to do was go to the top of the mountain and come straight back down! You're so stupid! You clench you fists and close your eyes. No. You need to calm down. Beating yourself up about it won't help anything. Just find a way out. You can. . . You can do this. You're brave!

     Looking around where you fell some more you see the stick you had been carrying landed next you you. As you go to pick it up you see a bright red scratch on your hand. Quickly you lick away the blood as your other hand reaches into your pocket. You always carry a Band-Aid with you in case you get hurt. You've used it many times. Some kids have made fun of you for keeping it in the past, but it works just fine and it's useful in situations like these! Slapping the bandage on your wound you then pick up the stick. Who knows what might be down here? As you continue to look around you spy some broken pillars and a path. Maybe you can find a way through there? If there's pillars and a path there might be stairs! Brushing yourself off you step away from the flowers and the light streaming through the hole. You follow the path until you find a big doorway. Peeking through it you see a shaft of light cutting through the dark room beyond and illuminating another flower. Just a single one, all by itself. You approach the flower.

     "Howdy! I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower!"

     You stop dead in your tacks. The flower is talking to you.

     "Hmmm. . . You're new to the Underground, aren'tcha? Golly, you must be so confused."

     Confused doesn't even begin to describe what you're feeling right now as this flower smiles at you. Is this all a dream? Did you hit your head when you fell? Well, harder than you thought at least? Your head does hurt. . .

     "Someone ought to teach you how things work around here!" the flower - Flowey, you correct yourself - continues. "I guess little old me will have to do. Ready? Here we go!"

     Suddenly there's a red glow and you gasp as you see a little, red heart appear in front of your chest. What is happening?

     "See that heart? That is your _soul_ , the very culmination of your being!" Flowey explains. You take a step back and the heart follows you, like it's attached with an invisible rod. You reach out to tap it, but your finger phases through it. Doing so sends a little shiver through your body.

     "Your soul starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV," Flowey continues and you jerk your face up to stare at it. "What's LV stand for? Why, LOVE, of course! You want some LOVE, don't you? Don't worry, I'll share some with you!"

     Flowey sticks out its tongue and winks at you. You don't like this. Something about this doesn't feel right. Suddenly little, white pellets shoot out of Flowey and spin in the air above him.

     "Down here, LOVE is shared through. . . little white. . . 'friendliness pellets'." Flowey says, squinting and looking off to the side on that last bit. Dread grows in the pit of your stomach. You _really_ don't like this. You don't trust this thing. Not at all.

     "Are you ready? Move around! Get as many as you can!" Flowey says as the "friendliness pellets" start to come toward you. Without even thinking you move out of the way, side-stepping out of their path. Flowey's expression changes, but it's still smiling at you as it says, "Hey buddy, you missed them. Let's try again, O.K.?"

     The pellets appear again and once more start coming toward you. This time you actively choose to avoid them. You don't want anything to do with this thing, it's giving you bad vibes. As the pellets sail passed you Flowey stops smiling.

     "Is this a joke? Are you you braindead? RUN. INTO. THE. BULLETS!!! - friendliness pellets." It may have quickly tried to cover it up, but you heard what it said. It may be smiling again as more pellets appear, but you know your gut was right. This thing is bad news and you have to get away from it. You dodge what you're confident in calling attacks now yet again and that's when Flowey's face changes into a horrifying expression.

     "You know what's going on here, don't you?" it says in a _much_ different voice. No longer bright and happy, but almost demonic. "You just wanted to see me suffer." You're getting really scared now. Before you can run away, though, Flowey summons a wall of those pellets around you.

     "DIE." Flowey booms in that terrifying voice as the pellets enclose on you. You have nowhere to run! You're so scared! You just want to go home and forget all this ever happened! You squeeze you eyes shut and brace for what's to come.

     . . . Nothing happens. You tentatively open one eye and see the pellets have vanished. Flowey looks as confused as you feel. Suddenly a fireball comes out of nowhere and slams into Flowey, knocking it into the darkness. Your soul sinks back into your chest. Blinking you look around as your heart pounds in your chest.

     "What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth. . ." says a large, white creature as it approaches. It's wearing purple robes with wide, long, white sleeves. Their head resembles a goat, but with a human body, and paws instead of hooves for feet.

     "Ah, do not be afraid, my child. I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first human to come here in a long time. Come! I will guide you through the catacombs. This way." she says. At least, you think it's a she. Before you can say anything she turns away and walks off. You're still scared, but you're more scared of staying here and dealing with the flower again so you follow her.

     You pass through another large doorway and enter a very purple room. It's not nearly as dark in here as the previous rooms. You see crystals suspended from the ceiling like lamps giving off a purple glow. Toriel continues forward toward what is obviously a building, rather than the natural stone walls you've been seeing. She walks up some stairs and then stops to turn and look down at you. You walk up to the staircase, but stop before ascending. You look up at the building in front of you. It seems very old, but more welcoming than the previous rooms. You don't know what you're doing anymore, but looking at these ruins you feel determined to continue on. You're not sure if you trust this new monster, yet, but she seems better than Flowey in any case. You make your way up the stairs and as you do Toriel continues on through the doorway. When you follow her there's a smaller room on the other side with a closed door on the other end. Off to the side you can see a series of buttons in the floor and switch on the wall.

     "Welcome to your new home, innocent one." Toriel says as you enter and you feel another knot in your stomach. New home? "Allow me to educate you in the operations of the Ruins." she continues and before you can say anything she walks over a couple of the buttons in the floor and then flips the switch. Upon flipping the switch the other door opens.

     "The Ruins are full of puzzles," Toriel says and she walks back to you. "Ancient fusions between diversions and door keys. One must solve them to move from room to room. Please adjust yourself to the sight of them."

     Slowly you make your way towards the buttons and study them before looking back over to Toriel. She's quietly standing there watching you with a soft smile. It's a nicer smile than Flowey's, but you don't quite trust her yet. You move on to look at a sign on the wall and as you do Toriel turns and walks through the now opened door.

     The sign reads, _"Only the fearless may proceed. Brave ones, foolish ones. Both walk not the middle road."_ Your brows furrow for a moment as you read the sign, but then you look over your shoulder to the buttons again. There are three columns of buttons and Toriel only stepped on the ones in the first and third columns. She didn't walk on the middle ones. That must be what this puzzle was! You had to avoid the middles ones to get the switch to work and open the door! Fearing you might be left behind you quickly scurry after Toriel into the next room.

     Toriel is calmly waiting for you. As you approach she says, "To make progress here you will need to trigger several switches. Do not worry, I have labelled the ones that you need to flip." Then she walks across a short bridge over a channel of water and down a path further into the room. Before you follow her you jog over to the wall to read another sign. _"Stay on the path."_ it says. Fearing triggering a trap of some sort you quickly bound back over to the path and follow after Toriel. She's waiting for you in front of another small bridge and you see the path branch off towards a switch on the wall helpfully marked with yellow arrows and note that says, _"Please press this switch. - TORIEL"_. You walk up to the switch and flip it. Toriel smiles at you before crossing the bridge and waiting for you at the next switch in front of a row of spikes.

     There's actually two switches, but the path only goes to one and that same one has the familiar yellow arrows and another note from Toriel ( _"Please press this switch too. - TORIEL"_ ) while the other does not. You flip the obvious switch and the room shakes as the spikes lower. Toriel seems delighted as she says, "Splendid! I am proud of you, little one. Let us move to the next room." before she continues on down the path and over what used to be blocked by spikes.

     You're still really confused, but you follow after her anyway. After all, there's nowhere else to go for the moment and she seems quite nice. You're still worried about her "new home" comment, but she isn't giving you the bad vibes that Flowey had been.

     When you enter into the next room from the short hallway Toriel says, "As a human living in the Underground, monsters may attack you." She seems worried as she says so. You'd be lying if you said you weren't worried at the prospect yourself. At least now you know that there are indeed more monsters down here that you need to watch out for. Toriel continues on, "You will need to be prepared for this situation. However, worry not! The process in simple. When you encounter a monster, you will enter a _fight_. While you are in a _fight_ , strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for time. I will come to resolve the conflict. Practice talking to the dummy." At that she walks over to a dummy that is stood in the otherwise empty room.

     You make a face of bewilderment at her. You can understand trying to talk to a monster until she comes to save you, but. . . she wants you talk to a dummy to practice that? That's a little. . . weird. You walk over to the dummy and stare at it for a bit. Then you look over at Toriel patiently waiting for you.

     "Do you need some ideas for conversation topics?" Toriel asks you as you stand there helplessly. "Well, I often start with a simple 'How do you do?'. You could ask them about their favorite books. . . Jokes can be useful for 'breaking the ice'. Listen to this one. . . What did the skeleton tile his roof with? . . . SHIN-gles!"

     You stare at her.

     ". . . Well, I thought it was amusing." Toriel says.

     With a sigh you look back at the dummy. She really does expect you to try and have a conversation it seems.

     "Um. . . Hello. How are you?" you ask. The dummy does nothing, because it's a dummy, but Toriels seems happy with you when you look back over to her.

     "Ah, very good! You are very good." she says before moving on to the next room. You don't really understand what the point of all this was, but you decide to not question it for now and just follow her.

     "There is another puzzle in this room. I wonder if you can solve it?" Toriel says as she steps into the next room. You look around. There's a path zigzagging through the room, but nothing else as far as you can see. There's some ivy on the walls, you suppose, but that's it. The two of you make your way through the room ( _you_ are careful to stay on the path) and into another hallway. You're wondering what the puzzle could be when suddenly something white hops out in front of you! It looks like a large frog, but. . . it also has a second set of eyes on its lower body. You look up, but you don't see Toriel nearby, she must have kept walking without you! Again!

     Once more you see a red glow and your soul floats out of your chest. It worries you, but when you look at the frog creature it just seems to be sitting there bobbing its head. Toriel said you just had to stall before she came to help you. She will come to help you! . . . Won't she? Clearing your throat you say, "Um. . . That was a pretty cool hop you did."

     The monster looks a little confused at your words, but you can see a blush forming on its cheeks. Before anything else can happen, though, Toriel appears. She's glaring at the creature. It looks at her and then slowly begins to slink off. Toriel continues glaring at it until it's out of sight, squinting in the distance for a moment before turning back to you with a smile. You quietly thank her and she simply smiles before continuing on down the hall.

     As you follow after her you stop to read another sign on the wall. _"The western room is the eastern room's blueprint."_ it says. You look back over towards the way you came. You wonder if this is referring to the winding path of the other room. It was weird to have the path laid out like that in such a straight and empty room. You hurry to catch up with Toriel, who had stopped when she saw you had paused to read the sign. The two of you reach the end of the hall and you're surprised to see a room _filled_ with spiked floors surrounded by water. You think you have this figured out, though. Before you can turn back to have a look at the other room again, however, Toriel interrupts your thoughts.

     "This is the puzzle, but. . . Here, take my hand for a moment." she says before reaching out and holding your hand. She smiles at you as she leads you across the small bridge to the spikes. The spikes, however, lower harmlessly as she steps on them. Slowly she leads you across the spikes in a path that you're sure is exactly the same as the one laid out in the other room. You're thankful for her help, but you can't help but feel miffed that she didn't even let you try to solve this puzzle on your own. You feel like you're being coddled. You're not a baby!

     Once the two of you safely traversed over the spikes Toriel lets go of your hand and says, "Puzzle seem a little too dangerous for now." with a worried expression before heading further into the Ruins. You frown a little as you follow. This last puzzle wasn't _that_ dangerous. The worst that could have happened was you'd get a sore foot.

     "You've done excellently thus far, my child." Toriel says as she stops in the next room. In the back of your mind you think dimly about how you hadn't actually _done_ anything yet and she's been doing everything. "However. . . I have a difficult request to ask of you," she continues before pausing a moment. "I would like you to walk to the end of this room by yourself. Forgive me for this."

     Before you can say anything she briskly walks off and disappears in the dim light emitted by the crystals above. Your heart beats in your chest before you follow after her. Why did she ask you to forgive her? Is something bad going to happen when you are by yourself? What is going to happen? The room is very long and it too has a winding path. Fearful of what unknown danger may lie ahead of you you never stray from the path and keep your pace quick. You don't start to run, yet, because you don't want to run _into_ the danger, but you want to get to the end of the room quickly all the same.

     Finally you can see the end of the room, but Toriel is nowhere in sight. You begin to worry that she really has abandoned you here, lead you deep into the ruins and then just left you. Before your worry or fear can get the best of you, however, she suddenly steps out from behind a pillar.

     "Greetings, my child. Do not worry, I did not leave you. I was merely behind this pillar the whole time. Thank you for trusting me." she says. You frown at her. She made you so worried just now! This was a mean trick and you don't trust her at all after this stunt she just pulled!

     "However, there was an important reason for this exercise," she continues. "To test your independence." You frown harder at that. "I must attend to some business, and you must stay alone for a while." Your frown of annoyance turns into a frown of worry. "Please remain here. It's dangerous to explore by yourself. I have an idea. I will give you a _cell phone_."

     Toriel digs into her pocket and pulls out a very old looking phone and hands it to you. You stare at it in your hand and then at her, at a loss for words. You only just met her and she's leaving you? She's giving you a phone? _What?_

     "If you have a need for anything, just call. Be good, alright?" she says before turning and walking out of the room. You are left standing alone and dumbfounded. You look back down at the phone in your hand. Pressing a few buttons you find the phone book. It only has one number in it, labelled "Toriel". You give it a call and press the phone up against your ear.

     The phone rings for a moment before you here Toriel's voice on the other end. "This is Toriel." she says.

     "Um. . . hi. I, um, just wanted to say hello." you mumble into the receiver, glad that she actually answered your call.

     "You only wanted to say hello. . .?" Toriel replies. "Well then. 'Hello!' I hope that suffices. Hee hee." Then she hangs up.

     Oh. You feel a little sad at that. Maybe she doesn't want to talk to you? Then again, she _did_ just giggle. Plus, if she didn't want to talk she wouldn't have given you a cell phone! You call again.

     "This is Toriel."

     "Hi, it's me again. Um, I, uh, wanted to know more about you." You figure it's about time you started asking her some questions.

     "You want to know more about me?" Toriel sounds surprised. "Well, I'm afraid there's not much to say. I'm just a silly little lady who worries too much!" She hangs up again before you can say anything else.

     You can't _believe_ she hung up on you like that! You look at the doorway she left through. You think about going after her and trying to find her, but that strikes you as a bad idea. What if she was right about the puzzles being too dangerous? You know you're safe where you are right now, at least. She said to wait. She'll. . . She'll come back. You sit down and lean up against the pillar she had hid behind earlier. You're still kind of upset about that, but maybe you can talk about that once she returns. . . You hope it's soon.

     After a little while you get bored and call Toriel again.

     "This is Toriel."

     "Hi, again."

     "You just wanted to say hello again? 'Salutations!' Is that enough?"

     You frown when she hangs up on you yet again. She didn't even give you a chance to answer! You were thinking it was kind of funny, what she said, then she went ahead and hung up on you. Again. You're starting to get annoyed. You decide to call her again and this time you wont let her hang up on you!

     "This is Toriel. Are you bored?" she says when she picks up.

     "Yeah." You admit.

     "I should have given a book to you. My apologies." A book would have been kind of nice right now, you think. "Why not use your imagination to divert yourself?" she continues.

     "How?" you ask.

     "Pretend you are. . . a monarch! Rule over the leaf pile with a fist of iron. Can you do that for me?"

     Once more she hangs up on you. You want to throw the phone in frustration. Doesn't she know you're supposed to say goodbye before you hang up? Or at least give them a chance to say more than a few words. It's rude otherwise. You don't throw the phone, though. You just put it on the floor next to you and bring your knees up to your chest. Maybe she's doing something really important so she can't talk much? Why else would she leave you alone like this? You decide not to call her again and bother her.

     What was that she had said, though? Pretend to rule over the leaf pile? You look around. There's no leaf pile anywhere. There's some of that ivy growing on the walls, but that's it. In fact, you don't recall seeing any piles of leaves since you got here. There were some leaves at the entrance of the Ruins, you guess, but those are passed the spiky floor puzzle and you don't think you can find you way back across that without Toriel's help.

     Wrapping your arms around your legs you bury your face into your knees. Toriel left you all alone and you can't even do her suggestion. You suppose you could still pretend to be a monarch, even without a leaf pile, but in all honesty you don't really feel like playing pretend right now. You want to go home. You don't want to be down here anymore. Toriel will come back and help you. She has to. You just need to wait.

     So you wait.

     You wait some more.

     You're still waiting.

     Suddenly your phone starts ringing. You jump at the sound and fumble a little as you pick it up to answer the call.

     "H-hello?" you answer.

     "This is Toriel. My errands are taking a little longer than I thought they would. You must wait five more minutes. Thank you for being patient." she says before hanging up.

     You can't even muster the energy to be annoyed by her hanging up on you now. That's just what she does, apparently. At least you know she hasn't forgotten about you and that she _does_ plan on coming back. You just need to wait.

     You keep waiting.

     You doodle scratches into the floor with your stick as you wait.

     This is the longest five minutes of your life.

     When the phone rings again you still jump, but not as bad, and you don't nearly drop the phone as you answer.

     "Toriel?" you ask.

     "This is Toriel," she answers. "I found what I was looking for, but before I could take it. . . a small, white puppy snatched it away. How odd. Do dogs even _like_ flour? Err, that is an unrelated question, of course. It will take a little longer. Please understand."

     You give a sigh as her end clicks off and slump back against the pillar. You're getting really sick of waiting. It sounds like she's planning on doing some baking, but she doesn't want you to know. She's really bad at lying. If she doesn't want you to know. . . maybe she wants to bake something for you? You smile at the thought. That would be really nice. Then again maybe she's just doing normal grocery shopping and she didn't want you to know she abandoned you just to do that. . .

     Whatever. You're sick of sitting here waiting. The only reason you came to Mt. Ebott was to prove that you're brave, so you're not going to be scared of what is further in the Ruins anymore! Getting up you have a firm hold on your stick and shove the phone into your pocket before marching through the door. Before you can get even two steps into the next room, however, your phone starts ringing again.

     "Hello? This is Toriel. You have not left the room, have you?" Toriel asks. She must sense when kids are doing things they shouldn't, like moms and teachers. "There are a few puzzles ahead that I have yet to explain. It would be dangerous to try and solve them yourself. Be good, alright?"

     You shove the phone back into your pocket. You don't care if it's dangerous, you can do it! You don't need to be treated like a baby! With a scowl you look around this new room. You see another of those frog monsters. It's peacefully sitting next to the path. You're a little worried at first, but then you steel yourself and approach it.

     "Ribbit, ribbit. Excuse me, human." it calls out. "I have some advice for battling monsters. If you _act_ a certain way or _fight_ until you almost defeat them. . . they may not want to battle you anymore. If a monster does not want to fight you, please. . . use some _mercy_ , human."

     "Oh, um, thank you." you say. It's nice to know that you can get a monster to stop attacking you, even without Toriel. Though you hope you won't have to fight them to do it. . . Since this frog thing is giving you advice you figure you should ask it something. "Hey, um, I see a doorway behind you, but the path doesn't lead to it. . . Will I get in trouble if I step off the path?"

     "Oh no, not at all." the frog replies. "You can go on up if you like."

     "Thank you." you say with a nod. Then you step pass the monster and walk through the doorway. Inside is a small room with two pools of water on either side and a little pedestal with a dish of candy on top in the middle of the room. There's a note sitting next to the dish that says _"take one"_. You decide to do just that and pocket a piece of candy. Another glance around the room and you're pretty sure you've seen all there is to see in this room. You were hoping there would be something more interesting, but free candy is never bad.

     Exiting the candy room you pass by the frog again and avoid the path to drag you feet through some leaves instead. This must be what Toriel meant on the phone earlier! She must have forgotten that these leaves weren't in the room she left you in, since she made it clear she didn't want you to leave that room. Momentarily you feel bad about defying her orders, but you push that thought aside and kick up some leaves. You can do this. You're determined to make it through these ruins and go back home.

     Thinking about that almost makes you laugh. Wow, when you finally get back home you're going to have such a story to tell all the kids back at school! . . . Will anyone even believe you, though? You stop crunching leaves for a moment. If you told them you went to Mt. Ebott and fell down, only to have a flower try and kill you and then a goat lady saved you they'd all start laughing at you. They'd think you made it up to get them to stop picking on you. Your hand tightens around your stick as you stare down at the leaves. Would they have even believed you if you had simply climbed the mountain like you originally wanted?

     Before you can contemplate this any more something flutters in front of you. You jerk you head up and are face to face with some sort of giant bug thing! It seems to tremble as you make eye contact.

     "Oh!" you say quietly and before you could say anything halfway intelligent the monster bursts into tears and flies away. You stand there dumbfounded for a moment before you start quickly walking towards the end of the room. You need to get out of here.

     As you walk down the corridor you hear a cracking nose and before you know what's happening you find yourself falling for the second time today. Luckily this fall isn't nearly as far as your previous one and the pile of leaves you land on is even cushier than the flowers! With a groan you get up and look around. There seem to be two staircases out of this room. After a moment of indecision you go up one of them and find it loops back around on itself and leads to a slide. You're a bit worried about using a mysterious slide. Stairs are easy to use both ways if you ever want to go back, slides not so much.

     Still, you're supposed to be brave! Taking a deep breath you situate yourself inside and then launch yourself down. When you pop out the other side your surprised to see yourself in the corridor you were in only a few moments ago. You even see the hole you fell through. Upon close inspection you also notice little cracks in the floor. No wonder you fell through! Luckily the slide deposited you on the other side of the weak floor so you don't have to worry about falling through again. Counting your blessing you move on to the next room where you phone starts to ring again.

     "Hello? This is Toriel," says the now familiar voice. "For no reason in particular. . . Which do you prefer? Cinnamon or butterscotch?"

     Oh she _must_ be making you something! Toriel is _really_ bad at lying. You can't help but smile as you say, "Butterscotch."

     "Oh, I see. Thank you very much!"

     You're still smiling as you pocket your phone. You wonder what she could be making? Looking around this new room you see more spikes at the far end and a rock by a button in the middle of the room. You think you know what to do, but you still wander over to a sign hung on the wall to read it. Before you can get close enough to read it, however, your phone goes off again.

     "Hello? This is Toriel. You do not _dislike_ cinnamon, do you? I know what your preference is, but. . . Would you turn up your nose if you found it on your plate?"

     You suppress a giggle at her obvious worry and say, "No, not at all."

     "Right, right, I understand. Thank you for being patient, by the way." Toriel says before disconnecting the call. Toriel is sweet. You're still kind of annoyed at her, but you've been warming up to her. Once you find out where she went to and talk to her some you're sure she'll make everything better.

     Finally getting up to the sign you read, _"Three out of four grey rocks recommend you push them."_ Well, that validates you theory, then. You guess the sign was just being funny about it. Walking over to the rock you clamp your stick between your teeth and start pushing it with both hands. It's not that hard to move, thankfully, and once it's on the button the spikes sink into the floor. Taking the stick out of your mouth you spit out some flakes of bark and dirt as you continue on your way. You don't get very far before Toriel calls you again.

     "Hello? You do not have any allergies, do you?" she asks when you answer.

     "No, why?" you ask, though you are fairly sure you know the reason already and you can't help but smile.

     "Huh? Why am I asking? No reason. . . No reason at all." she replies, trying to sound innocent before hanging up on you.

     With a warmth flooding your heart you start walking again and run into another one of those flying things. You decide to ignore it and keep walking as it looks just as terrified as the last one. It doesn't appear to follow you as you enter the next room. After walking down a short hallway you stop and groan. The whole floor seems to be covered in those tiny cracks like in the other room. You really don't want to fall down any more holes today, but you don't see any way to cross. Tentatively you step out onto the floor. Nothing happens. Maybe if you just go really slow and caref-

     You fall down again. Luckily there's more leaves to break your fall. As you get up, though, you notice a clear path without leaves. Looking up at the ceiling you see that unlike up above the cracks don't cover the whole surface. Up there it looks like the whole floor is weak, but there's actually a path that is more structurally sound that matches the path in the leaves down here. You just hope you can get back up there. . . and remember the path. You decide to walk the path down here, first, to help cement it in you mind. As you follow it you come across a sign that says, _"Please don't step on the leaves."_ Well last time you followed a sign like that you scared yourself for no reason and almost missed out on some candy! You'll step on the leaves if you want to!

     You walk the path a couple more times before you explore the back end of the room in hopes of finding an exit. Seeing another staircase you walk towards it but stop when your soul suddenly floats out of your chest. Looking around you suddenly see something that looks not unlike something from a Jell-O mold. You didn't notice it at fist due to its translucence. It's blocking your way. You're not sure what to do. . . It doesn't seem to be doing anything other than making an odd squorching sound. You stand there for a moment just watching it. It continues to do nothing. Maybe. . . Maybe if you lie down it will think you aren't a threat a leave?

     You lie down on the floor, clasping your stick to your chest, your soul floating above you. If you don't do anything scary then maybe it won't. The world would be a nicer place if everyone would just. . . lie down with each other from time to time. That's a nice thought. The jelly monster, though, doesn't seem content to lie still on the floor. It gives a little jiggle and some white pellets, bigger than the ones Flowey had used, appear and slowly fly towards you. Still hoping it won't see you as a threat you just kind of. . . roll out of the way when one gets too close to you.

     That seems to do the trick! The monster starts to slide away like a slug. You sit up. On the floor where it used to be you notice a gold coin. You pick it up and put it in your pocket. Maybe you can use that for something? In any case you decide to keep an eye out for more and pick up any you find. You head up the stairs and find another slide. Once you slide down it you find yourself back in the room above. You think you can still remember the pathway from the lower room as you make you walk back over to the cracked floor. You go slow, not wanting to chance what you _think_ is the stronger floor. It's still cracked even if not all the way through, after all.

     As you go you notice another pile of leaves with a sign above it. You're pretty sure the floor is safe enough to walk on over there so you let your curiosity take over and approach the sign. It says, _"Didn't you read the sign downstairs?"_ You quickly step off from the leaves. Maybe this time there _was_ a booby trap! Better not risk it. Nervously you look around before continuing your careful journey over the cracked floor. Lucky for you, you manage to make it to the exit without falling through again! Breathing a sigh of relief you press onward.

     You see a room similar to a previous room you were in, but this time there are three buttons and three rocks instead of only one each. There are also less spikes and more water. You guess if you really wanted to you could just. . . wade through the water to get to the other side, but you really don't want to get all wet. So pushing the rocks seems like your best option. The first two rocks are easy enough to push onto the buttons, but you nearly jump out of your skin when the third one starts talking to you!

     "WHOA there, pardner!" it says. "Who said you could push me around?"

     "Oh! I-I'm sorry! I didn't know! I, um, I just need. . . I just need you to move over a little bit." you say, nervously.

     " _Hmm?_ So you're _askin'_ me to move over? Okay, just for you, pumpkin." the rock says. You breathe a sigh of relief, but that relief is cut short when it only moves over a little bit. Not enough to press down the button.

     "Um. . . Could you. . . Could you move a little more?" you ask.

     " _Hmm?_ You want me to move some more? Alrighty, how's this?" the rock says before moving to the left. Now it was even farther from the button!

     "No, no! Not that way! I need you over there!" you say, pointing at the button.

     " _Hmm?_ That was the wrong direction? Okay, think I got it." it says before finally sliding over onto the button.

     You give another sigh and little smile as you see the spikes lower. You start making your way over to them, but right before you step onto them they shoot back up! You turn around and see the rock has moved off the button.

     "Um, I really need these spikes down." you say. "I need you on that button for that."

     " _Hmm?_ You wanted me to _stay_ there? You're giving me a real workout." it says before sliding back onto the button. You quickly cross over the spikes before the rock decides to move around any more.

     "Thank you!" you call out before passing through to the next room. Before you enter it, though, your path gets blocked by another flying bug and frog. It's still a little weird to see that red heart phase out of your chest and float in front of you, but you suppose you'll have to get used to it. Looking at these monsters you remember what Toriel had told you and you try to say something nice.

     "You, uh, both look nice today." you offer. The bug looks away from you meekly and the frog blushes, though looking confused. Suddenly the frog leaps at you and you cry out in surprise as you jump out of the way. "Ah! No! Please leave me alone!" you say. The bug seems startled by your outbursts and flies off and the frog continues hopping away out of sight. There are some more coins on the floor where they used to be. You really hope you find Toriel soon.

     In the next room you find a tiny table with some cheese on it. The cheese is really old and when you try to pick it up you find that it's stuck to the table. Gross. Before walking away, though, you see a little hole in the wall and crouch down in front of it. From inside you can hear squeaking. There must be a mouse inside! You're sure the mouse would like the cheese more than you anyway. It's probably just waiting for you to leave so that it can come out and get some. You smile and stand up. One day it's going to get out of its hole and so will you! You're determined to press forward and find your way out to your own cheese. With a new sense of vigor you step out into the next room.

     You stop dead in your tracks. There's a ghost in front of you. Right in the middle of your path is another pile of leaves and ghost laying on top. You take a step forward. The ghost continues to lie there, staring up at the ceiling. You get closer. As you approach you hear the ghost start saying "z" out loud repeatedly. It stops for a moment to whisper, "Are they gone yet?" and then continues saying "z" over and over again.

     This ghost is an even worse liar than Toriel.

     You can't seem to get around it while it's laying in your path like that. You try to nudge it, but you hand phases right through their body. Then your soul appears and the ghost floats up to face you. It looks kind of sad. You feel a little bad for them so you give them a soft smile.

     "Heh. . ." the ghost laughs quietly before tears start falling from their eyes. You don't move fast enough and some of the tears hit you. They sting! Who ever heard of tears that hurt you?! The ghost seems to calm down a bit. You really don't want them to cry on you again so you try a tell them a joke to cheer them up.

     "H-hey! Did you hear about the guy who lost his left arm and leg? Don't worry, he's _all right_ now." you say.

     "Heh heh. . ." the ghost gives a soft chuckle. Then it looks away and says, "Really not feeling up to it right now. Sorry." You don't quite understand, but at least it isn't crying anymore. The ghost looks back at you and upon seeing you're confused face says, "Let me try. . ." and it starts crying again, but instead of the tears falling down and splashing you they start floating up. You watch in bewilderment for a moment before you realize what's going on. The tears are merging together on top of their head and forming the shape of a hat!

     "I call it 'Dapper Blook'. Do you like it. . .?" it says and looks at you expectantly.

     "It looks really nice!" you tell them.

     "Oh gee. . ." they say softly and you notice your soul merge back with your body. "I usually come to the Ruins because there's nobody around. . . but today I met somebody nice. . . Oh, I'm rambling again. I'll get out of your way." Then they fade away, leaving the path clear. You feel a little sad. You kind of wanted to talk to them more. They reminded you of those flying bug monsters, but at least it would talk to you instead of immediately flying away in fright. There are so many strange things down here.


	2. Chapter 2

    You fell down a hole, were almost killed by a flower, saved by a goat, abandoned by the goat, solved a bunch of puzzles, got cried on by a ghost, and now you're standing at a cross roads. Today has been a really interesting day. You decide to keep heading forward and seem to come to a dead end. There's nothing in this room but a sign. The sign says, _"Spider Bake Sale: All proceeds go to real spiders."_ You pause and look around. The room still seems empty, but then you notice the webs on the far wall. There are notes next to them. One reads, _"7g per Spider Doughnut"_ the other, _"18g per Spider Cider"_ . You feel a little weird, but mostly curious. Reaching into your pocket you pull out the handful of coins you had managed to collect on your way here. You don't nearly have enough, but you really want to see where this goes.

    The coins always appeared after you ran into a monster, but not every monster left coins behind. Maybe. . . Maybe if you found more monsters you'd collect more coins? So far none of the monsters have seemed mean, other than Flowey. . . You just needed to be nice and they'd eventually leave you alone and maybe leave you some gold too! Making up your mind you nod and march back out of the room to look for more monsters. Who knew you'd be _looking_ for them at some point?

    You run around through a couple of rooms, going back and forth until you run into someone. You find a frog who sends flies at you and another Jell-O thing who you just kind of copy and the two of you wiggled at each other until it leaves. There are more bug monsters, but they always act so timid and scared of you. You leave them alone. The frogs and Jell-O guys are the ones who do stuff and, as you learn, leave money behind. It's actually kind of fun running into these guys and you find yourself laughing as you jump out of the way of a frog's hop. You never run into that ghost again, but you do eventually collect a lot of coins! Enough to test out that bake sale!

    So you make your trek back to the webs and count out seven of your coins. Then you place them on the web. You don't have to wait long before a spider crawls out carrying a doughnut over its body. You take the doughnut and watch the spider wrap up the coins in silk before dragging them off back where it had been hiding within the cracks of the wall. Well that sure was something. You look at the doughnut. You're not really hungry right now so you're not sure what to do with it. Then you get an idea. You slide the doughnut onto your stick. It stays put and you smile at your own cleverness. Now then, the other web. . .

    You count out the proper amount of coins and place them in the web. Another spider comes out carrying a little jug. Well, little to you, it looks pretty big compared to the spider. You laugh a little as you take it from the spider and it wraps up the coins. You're able to just about fit the jug into your other pocket. Well that sure was an adventure! Time to continue on through the Ruins and hopefully out of them! You feel a little bad now as you make you way up the other path. You were wasting time collecting money when you really should have been trying to find your way out. Mom is probably really worried about you by now. . . You wonder if she's called Dad to tell him you haven't come home from school yet. Guilt eats away at the pit of your stomach.

    As you enter the next room you see a sign that reads, _"Did you miss it? Spider Bake Sale down and to the right. Come eat food made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders!"_ Now you _really_ wish you hadn't just wasted all that time hunting for money! You just bought stuff made _of_ spiders? Gross! Next to the sign is a frog monster. 

    "Ribbit, ribbit," it says before sighing. "My friend never listens to me. Whenever I talk they just ignore what I say. . . That's right. . . They ignore me. . . Well, at least you listen to me."

    "Maybe try telling them how you feel next time." you offer before you continue on down the path. There's another frog. As you approach it starts talking to you.

    "Ribbit, ribbit. I heard about this thing called F4, but what does F4 stand for? 'Four Frogs'? I have only ever seen a maximum of three frogs in this room. . . This is troubling, to say the least. Ribbit." it says.

    "Um, I don't know about F4, but I've seen lots of frogs in this place so. . . maybe?" you reply. These monsters say some really weird things sometimes.

    Before you exit the room you are stopped by another frog who says, "Ribbit, ribbit. I have heard you are quite merciful, for a human. . . Surely by now you know by now that when a monster flashes yellow you can spare it. What do you think of that?"

    You _had_ noticed the monsters you encountered would flicker at some point, but you weren't quite sure what that was and thought that maybe your eyes were playing tricks on you or that maybe monsters just did that sometimes. Maybe it's, like, some sort of social feature they adapted to signal when they didn't want to fight? That's kind of cool. You smile at the frog creature and say, "Very helpful." with a nod.

    "It is rather helpful." the frog agrees. "Remember, sparing is just saying you won't fight. Maybe one day, you'll have to do it even if the monster doesn't flash yellow."

    You really hope you never have to worry about that. You want to get out of here as soon as possible. Once you find a way out of the Ruins you won't have to worry about monsters and if they flash yellow or not. Then your phone rings. It startles you as you haven't heard it in such a long time!

    "Hello?" Toriel says when you answer the call. "I just realized that it has been a while since I have cleaned up. I was not expecting to have company so soon. There are probably a lot of things lying about here and there. You can pick them up, but do not carry more than you need. Someday you might see something you really like. You will want to leave room in your pockets for that."

    As she hangs up you think about what she said. You have been picking up some stuff while you explored. The bake sale goods, the money, and the candy! You still have plenty of room for stuff as long as you don't carry anything _too_ big. Though you can't imagine it being a problem. You'll meet up with Toriel and then find a way back home where you won't have to worry about picking up random stuff.

    In the next room you see more cracked floor, but nothing blocking your path. The spikes, however, _do_ block your path. The sign on the wall says, _"There is just one switch."_ Wandering further into the room you look around, but you don't see any switches anywhere! Then you look at the cracked bits of floor. Oh no. You think you know what you have to do. There's probably a room down below that has the switch. Darn it! You give a groan of frustration. You don't want to do this! Standing there frowning an idea suddenly pops into your head.

    You don't have to fall and get hurt! You can just break the floor with your stick and then peek into the room below! Then when you find the switch you can just lower yourself down carefully! Proud of yourself you walk up to one of the cracks and start pounding on it with your stick. The floor falls in on itself and you get down on your knees to peer through the hole you made. You see some more leaves and a patch of grass, but nothing else. Moving on to another spot you create another hole and peek down. You still don't see a switch, but you do see the ghost from earlier!

    "Hey!" you call out.

    "I fell down a hole. . . Now I can't get up," the ghost says. "Go on without me. . ."

    "Are you O.K.?" you ask.

    "Wait, ghosts can fly, can't they. . .? Oh well. . ." the ghost says before fading away again. You feel kind of bad for them. They seem so sad. If only they didn't go away after you run into them. It would be nice to have a little company. Oh well, back to work. Before you can move on to your next hole, however, a creature walks by and stops, it looks a little startled to see you. It kind of reminds you of Mike from Monsters Inc.

    "Oh, I didn't mean to surprise you. I'm sorry." you say.

    "Finally someone gets it." the monster replies before a bunch of rings bounce towards you. You dodge out of the way while the monster simply stares.

    "I don't want to fight, I just want to get out of here." you say. That seems to do the trick as the monster briefly flickers yellow and leaves. Breathing a sigh you go back to breaking open the floor. When you look down you still don't see a switch, but you do see something else. You can't quite make out what it is, though. Carefully you position yourself until you're dangling over the edge. It's not that far of a drop when you let go and land in the leaf pile. Now that you're down here, though, you can finally make out what it was that you saw.

    It's some red ribbon that's been tied into a bow with a long tail. It's kind of cute. You reach out and pick it up. You think you'll take it with you. Using the long end you tie the ribbon around your wrist. As you do so, you notice that your Band-Aid is starting to fall off. Peeling it back a little you see the cut on your hand has stopped bleeding. You don't want the bandage to fall off while you walk through the Ruins, that would be gross for someone to find, so you peel it the rest of the way off before the adhesive has time to fully wear out and stick it back in your pocket. Then you make your way up the stairs and down the slide back into the room above. As you walk over to some more cracked floor you run across another Jell-O monster and different type of bug monster. The former just sits there wiggling like you're used to as the latter glares at you. The jelly quickly slinks off before you have the chance to do anything, however. The bug instantly brightens when it leaves and starts doing the wave.

    "Mmm cha cha!" it says as it dances. You smile, apparently there's some sort of dance party going on over here. You start dancing a little too.

    "Hi!" you say as you dance.

    "Hiya~" the bug says at it smiles at you. You giggle a little. This is fun and all, but you really can't be wasting any more time. You wave at the monster as you continue on your way. You kneel down before the cracks and break through them with your stick. Finally, when you lean over for a look you spy the switch!

    Once more you lower yourself down and after landing in the leaves with a soft "oof" you reach up and flip the switch. You can hear the spikes lower even if you can't see them from down here. Quickly you make your way back up into the room above and then walk through the now opened hall. All the previous rooms have been fairly empty, save for some spikes, but this new one has some pillars littered throughout. You read the sign on the wall that says, _"The far door is not an exit. It simply marks a rotation in perspective."_

    As you puzzle over what that could mean you note that by each pillar is a different colored switch in the ground. You don't dare touch any of them just yet, but when you look at the end of the room you see the doorway is clear anyhow. Curious. Walking through it suddenly your stomach gives a turn and you feel dizzy. When you look around you find yourself back in the room you had just left! Or at least one very similar. There are still the pillars and switches, but the room seems flipped. The sign is gone too.

    As you walk through the room you spy a new sign around the corner. Not only that, but spikes block the exit. Reading the sign you find it says, _"If you can read this, press the blue switch."_ Oh. You think you know what's happening. You _are_ in the same room, it's just been rotated with magic or something! That's what the first sign had meant! Walking over to the blue switch you hear the spikes as they lower and then make your way through the doorway. Once more your head starts to spin and you feel funny.

    Still in the same room, but rotated once more. The sign near you reads, _"If you can read this, press the red switch."_ You can see the switch in question at the far end of the room. As you wander through the room suddenly a. . . carrot jumps out at you. A rather big carrot. . . with a face.

    "Farmed locally. Very locally." it cackles. The way it's looking at you makes you nervous, but before you can do anything your stomach gives a growl. You cover it in embarrassment, hoping this new monster doesn't think you want to eat it and attack you. The monster, however, seems to soften its smile and says, "Eat your greens!" then it shoots out a bunch of carrots at you. You yelp and jump out of the way, but one of them is a different color. It's green and when you don't manage to dodge it the vegetable harmlessly bounces off of your soul. Then nothing happens as the monster just watches you and smiles. All the carrots disappear save for the green one.

    "Um. . . Is that for me?" you ask as you point at it. The carrot monster nods and you pick it up. You _are_ hungry now and you don't really feel like eating that doughnut made of spiders. . . You take a bite. It tastes like a normal carrot. The monster seems happy and leaves. You blink and after a moment take another bite. Munching on the carrot you walk up to the switch and flip it. The spikes lower and you continue on.

    You expect the odd feeling when it comes this time. Looking for a new sign to tell you what to do you find you have to press green switch now. You do so and carry on your way. You really hope this magic ends soon and you can _actually_ leave the room. The thought of being trapped in this room forever is a terrifying one. As you step over the spikes you vow that if you are still here you'll call Toriel again and make her come rescue you.

    You breathe a sigh of relief when you don't feel yourself being transported and you see new things ahead. You begin to wonder how big the Ruins are. It feels like forever since you fell down here. Your body is starting to really ache from all the tumbles you've taken and the couple of hits from the various monsters. You're getting pretty tired too. Rubbing your various aches you step across the ivy growing over the floor and then stop to examine the branching path before you.

    To your right is yet another pile of leaves and ahead of you is even more ivy. Both paths end in a dark doorway. You decide to keep pressing forward instead of following the leaves and find yourself in a small room with another doorway and another frog. The frog says, "Ribbit, ribbit. Just between you and me. . . I saw Toriel come out of here just a little while ago." You smile at the news. You must be catching up to her! The frog continues, "She was carrying some groceries. I didn't ask what they were for. . . We're all too intimidated to talk to her. Ribbit."

    Obviously that was her baking supplies she not so cleverly tried to hide from you. However the other thing they said gives you pause. Why would these monsters be too intimidated to talk to her? She had been nothing but pleasant since you met her. Yes, she made you worry and annoyed at times, but she was never _intimidating_. Was there something about her you had yet to discover? Now that you think about it, earlier, when she saved you from that first frog, all she did was glare at it and it left. Is Toriel really that frightening? Or are these monsters just that much of push-overs?

    Passing by the frog you head through the doorway and find yourself on a balcony overlooking more of the Ruins. Placing your hands on the edge you stare out into the darkness at the crumbling buildings. A shiver runs down your spine. You just want to go home. You want to get out of this place. However, this appears to be a dead end for you. There's no way you're going to climb over this ledge and explore those buildings. You need to find where Toriel went to. She has to be close by. As you turn to go back to the fork in the path you spy something laying in the corner. Inspecting it closer you find it's a simple plastic knife. Not like something you'd have on a picnic, but a prop. The blade wouldn't be able to cut anything unless it was especially soft. You shove the toy into your pocket, the handle poking out some. It seems a shame to just leave it here, it doesn't look like it belongs to anyone.

    You make your way pass the frog and then across the leaf pile. As the new room reveals itself you see a tall, dark tree standing ahead. Its branches are bare and there's more leaves scattering the ground at its base. As you approach it you hear Toriel's voice.

    "Oh dear, that took longer than I thought it would." she says as you see her coming towards you. She doesn't seem to notice you as she stops and takes out her phone. Suddenly the phone she had given you starts ringing in your pocket. Toriel starts at the sound and finally spots you, heading over to you quickly as she hangs up.

    "How did you get here, my child? Are you hurt? There, there, I will heal you," she worries as she looks you over. "I should not have left you alone for so long. It was irresponsible to try and surprise you like this. Err. . ." Toriel looks bashful for a moment before continuing with a big smile, "Well, I suppose I can not hide it any longer. Come, small one!"

    You then follow her pass the tree and towards a cute, tidy house. Seeing the building makes you feel a little bit better, but it reminds you of your own home and you're more determined than ever to find your way out and return to it. Toriel waits for you inside and as you step in she says, "Do you smell that? Surprise! It is a butterscotch-cinnamon pie."

    You indeed smell the sweet scent of butterscotch with a hint of cinnamon. You also feel immediately warmer and cozier stepping inside the house. You suspect it's from the warmth of baking and the fact that there appears to be normal electrical lights inside rather than those strange crystals.

    "I thought we might celebrate your arrival. So I will hold off on snail pie for tonight." Toriel explains and you make a face. "Here, I have another surprise for you." she says before walking down the left hall. You stand in front of the door for a moment wrapping you head around what she said. You're getting that uneasy feeling in your gut again. What did she mean by "holding off for tonight?" Earlier she had said that the Ruins would be your "new home". You have to explain to her that you have no intentions of staying here. Plus you're starting to worry that she's only fooling you. She seems too good to be true, helping you through the Ruins, making you a pie? What that frog told you echoes in your mind as you cautiously follow her.

    "This is it. . ." she says as she smiles and takes your hand. She leads you down the hall and stops in front of a door. "A room of your own. I hope you like it!" she says before gently stroking the top of your head. You're suddenly too scared to do anything but stand there staring at the door.

    "Is something burning. . .?" Toriel says suddenly. "Um, make yourself at home!" Then she quickly scurries off down the hall leaving you to numbly stare at "your room". Slowly, you reach out towards the doorknob and open the door. The room is painted a salmon color. Not something you personally would have picked, but not abhorrent either. There's a bed with some stuffed animals (monsters?) beside it and a basket of other various toys at the foot. Maybe another time or place you would have been interested in investigating and playing with the toys, but in the present moment you're too worried about your prospects of ever leaving this place. Instead you toss the toy knife into the basket, this feels like a better place for it than your pocket.

    In a daze you wander around the rest of the room. You notice there's a fine layer of dust covering everything. There's an empty wardrobe as well as an empty bookshelf. On top of the bookshelf is a frame with no picture inside. Next to it on the wall is a drawing of a flower and below that a chest. Peeking inside the chest you find shoes in various sizes. Shoes that would in no way fit Toriel's feet. They are human shoes. Your gut twists uneasily yet again. Has Toriel been preparing for someone to come down here all this time? She did say that she explored the Ruins every day in case someone fell down into them and she seemed more than eager to take you in. . .

    Leaning your stick against the wardrobe you sit on the bed and heave a sigh. You don't know what you're going to do. Toriel obviously has no plans to let you leave. Will she get angry if you try to anyway? Your heart feels heavy as you worry you'll never get to go home. You lay down and curl in on yourself. A tightness begins to form in your chest and you know that if you let them, tears will start to fall. Your vision starts to get blurry and you take in a shaky breath. No. You won't do this. You'll find a way through this and you won't start crying like a baby.

    Closing your eyes you allow yourself to relax a little and the tightness in your chest begins to ease. The tears you could feel begin to form never fall and gradually disappear. Your breathing gets more even and suddenly you realize just how _tired_ you are. The bed feels nice after all the running around you've done today. What time even is it anymore? Before you know it you've drifted off to sleep.

    When you wake up you don't recognize where you are. The lights are off. Suddenly your brain snaps to attention and you throw back the covers (when were you under the blankets?) as you hop out of the bed. You blink and notice a plate with a slice of pie on it sitting on the floor. Toriel must have brought it and saw you asleep. She then tucked you in and turned off the lights for you. The urge to cry returns as you pick up the plate from the floor. She's being so sweet to you and all you want is to see your mother. Have _her_ stroke your hair and tuck you in.

    Carrying the pie in your hands you walk over to the lamp in the corner and turn it back on. Then you sit on the floor and pick up the fork that is balanced on the plate next to the pie slice. You are really hungry. That carrot from earlier only helped a little and that was a while ago. The pie is delicious and soon your plate is clean, not a crumb in sight. You even drink the cider too, the jug had been uncomfortably pressed up against your leg inside your pocket for long enough. Your desire for something to drink overrides your hesitance in drinking the spider product. Balancing the now empty jug on the plate you stand up and exit the room.

    You're not really sure where to go. You figure you might as well talk Toriel so it is time to go look for her. Walking down the hall you try the next door and it opens easily. Stepping inside you find another bedroom, this one painted blue. This must be Toriel's room. She's nowhere in sight, but you can't resist the urge to poke around a bit. Next to the door is a bucket of snails. You make a face and move pass it quickly, setting your plate on the desk. You spy a notebook nearby with a passage circled in red. Looking down at it you read, _"Why did the skeleton want a friend? Because she was feeling BONELY. . ."_ You scan the rest of the page and find more jokes of similar style. Toriel seems to really like jokes if she's written a bunch of them down. This circled one must be her favorite. You've heard better.

    There's a bunch of potted plants in the room, including some cacti. You recognize some flowers as the same kind you landed in when you fell down here. Examining the rather large bookshelf you find an encyclopedia of subterranean plants. On a whim you pull it out and flip through the pages. When you stop you find a passage about the "water sausage". This book doesn't seem very interesting so you put it back. Glancing at the bed and dresser you decide to keep exploring the house. Toriel might not like you wandering around in here pawing through her stuff. Picking up your plate you exit out into the hall again.

    There's only one more room pass Toriel's. A sign is hanging on the door and reads, _"Room under renovations."_ When you try the doorknob you find the room is locked. You wonder what could be in there. It seems odd for Toriel to hang a sign like that in her own house if she's the only one here. Turning to look down the hall all you see is a mirror and a vase holding some water sausages. You smile a bit at recognizing the plant. Before you head back towards the other side of the house you check the drawer of the table next to the locked room. Nothing but some seeds and broken crayons. You're not sure what you expected to find, but you figure it doesn't hurt to look.

    Back at the front of the house you walk pass some stairs leading down and check another table with a drawer. The only thing inside is a calendar way out of date. You glance at the stairs, but figure you should check out this floor before you go down there. Down the hall you find the living room and Toriel. She's sitting in a big chair next to the fireplace reading a book. There are a lot of books in the house you note as you walk up to her.

    "Up already, I see?" she says as she looks up from her book. "Um, I want you to know how glad I am to have someone here. There are so many old books I want to share. I want to show you my favorite bug-hunting spot." You can't help but feel sad as you listen to her. She sounds so hopeful and happy. She must have been very lonely here. "I've also prepared a curriculum for your education." she continues and your stomach knots again. "This may come as a surprise to you. . . but I have always wanted to be a teacher. . . Actually, perhaps that isn't very surprising." Toriel purses her lips and looks off in the distance before she says, " _Still_. I am glad to have you living here. Oh, did you want something? What is it?"

    You suddenly don't have the heart to tell her you want to leave this place. You really don't think she means any ill will towards you and is simply a very lonely lady. She wants to take care of you and you. . . You can't return all her kindness by telling her you don't want to stay here. Looking down at your dishes you say, "Nothing. I was just. . . I was just looking for the kitchen to put these away. . ."

    "Well, talk to me again if you need anything." Toriel says before returning to her book. It's such a pretty picture, her sitting by the fire with her book, wearing her reading glasses. You can imagine how nice it would be to crawl up beside her and have her read you a story. You turn away from the heartwarming scene and continue through to the kitchen. You can see the pie sitting on the counter, a single slice missing from it. It's too big and you're too full to attempt eating any more. You place the dishes in the sink, noting a clump of white fur clogged in the drain. Gross. You decide to have a peek inside the fridge while you're here as you're curious what Toriel normally eats (you hope it isn't just full of snails).

    There seems to be normal groceries inside and strangely enough, a brand-name chocolate bar. You wonder how she would even get such a thing down here. You imagine growing crops down here could be feasible, but a product made up on the surface for humans? This mystery will have to remain such, however. You have bigger problems to worry about. Like how you're going to return to where such products don't seem so out of place.

    Back in the living room you wander over to the bookshelf. You're still not quite up to talking to Toriel about your desires just yet so you pull a random book off the shelf to keep yourself busy. It appears to be a history book. Flipping to a random page you begin to read, _"Trapped behind the barrier and fearful of further human attacks, we retreated. Far, far into the earth we walked, until we reached the cavern's end. This was our new home, which we named. . . 'Home.' As great as our king is, he is pretty lousy at names."_

    You close the book and return it to its spot. Barrier? Human attacks? What happened here? Glancing at Toriel again you decide to go check out the downstairs. You just don't know what to say to her yet. Leaving the room you make your way down the stairs. You find it isn't as cozy as the upper floor when you make it to the bottom. It's lit by the same purple glow of those crystals in the rest of the Ruins. It's a wide hallway that seems to go for quite a ways. You wonder what could be at the end and begin walking. Before you get very far, however, Toriel appears at your side.

    "I think you should play upstairs instead." she says before grabbing your hand and leading you back up the stairs. Once at the top she releases her hold on you and returns to the living room. Your curiosity grows and you head back down the stairs. Something must be down there that she doesn't want you to find. You don't get very far before Toriel appears again saying, "It's dangerous to play here." and whisking you back upstairs.

    You narrows your eyes in thought as you allow yourself to be dragged back to the upper floor. You didn't see anything dangerous and even if there were could they be any worse than what you've already faced? Plus you aren't playing, you're looking for anything that will help you get back home. You decide to head back down again. You have to know what's down there.

    "It's drafty here. You will catch a cold." Toriel says before you can get much farther than your previous two attempts. How does she keep sneaking up on you? Whatever is down here must be really important. If it truly was that dangerous she wouldn't try to dissuade you with such an inconvenience and instead explain the actual dangers to you. She's hiding something. You wait for her to leave you alone at the top of the stairs again before heading back down, but sure enough she's right on your heels before you can make any progress.

    "It is dusty here. You will catch a cough."

    She is such a bad liar and you will not let her discourage your search. You go down the stairs again.

    "There is nothing to see here."

    Liar! Back down you go with defiance.

    "Do you want to read a book?"

    No, you don't want to read a book. You want to know what she's trying so hard to keep from you! You practically run back down the stairs.

    "I do not like this game you are playing." Toriel says with a stern expression as she grabs your hand for the seventh time, more firmly than she had the previous times. Uh oh. You feel she has lost her patience with you and if you push her any further something bad might happen. So you allow her to lead you back up the stairs without complaint. You even go so far as to follow her back into the living room once she lets go of your hand. She takes up her spot in her chair, picks up her book and glasses, and goes back to reading. You know she's watching you, though.

    Silently you wander around the room. Running your fingers along the handles of fireplace tools and across the spines of the books. Then you wander back to your room. The toys still hold no interest for you, but you retrieve your doughnut and stick. Holding the stick reminds you of the world you left behind. The world you so desperately want to return to. You have to figure out what you're going to do. You can't just stay here. Your parents are probably worried sick about you! You want nothing more than to see them again. You. . . You're going to have to talk to Toriel. Maybe if you just tell her all this she'll let you go. You exit your room and head back to Toriel.

    "Oh, hello!" she says when you stand in front of her, looking down at your shoes. "Did you want to hear about the book I am reading? It is called '72 Uses for Snails'. How about it?"

    "Sure." you say, quietly, not sure how to broach the topic of what you really want to talk about.

    "Here is an exciting snail fact. Did you know that snails. . . sometimes flip their digestive systems as they mature? Interesting." she says.

    "Yeah." you agree softly, still not looking at her.

    "Well, bother me if you need anything else." Toriel says before looking back down at her book. You hesitate a moment before tapping her knee to get her attention. "What is it?" she asks, looking up.

    "How do you exit the Ruins?" you ask her.

    ". . . I have to do something. Stay here." she says before removing her reading glasses and setting them aside with her book. Then she gets up and walks pass you. You follow after her and see her disappear down the stairs. You continue to follow after her. At the bottom of the stairs you find her standing in the long hallway with her back to you. As you approach she says, "You wish to know how to return 'home', do you not? Ahead of us lies the end of the Ruins. A one-way exit to the rest of the Underground. I am going to destroy it. No one will ever be able to leave again. Now be a good child and go upstairs."

    Toriel then continues down the hall. You steel yourself and pursue her. You can't let her keep you trapped here! As nice as she is that's what you'll be, trapped. She has no right to keep you here! She can't treat you like you're her child, she's not your mother! You want to see your real mother again!

    You find her further down the hall, her back still turned to you. You're not sure if she's waiting to see if you'd follow her directions or if she's steeling herself to follow through with her plan. As you get closer she speaks again, "Every human that falls down here meets the same fate. I have seen it again and again. They come. They leave. They die. You naive child. . . If you leave the Ruins. . . They. . . _Asgore_. . . Will kill you. I am only protecting you, do you understand? . . . Go to your room."

    She sounds so despondent. You can't help but feel bad for her and she retreats further down the hall, but you can't turn back now. Even if things are scary. . . You need to at least try. You can't just give up on ever going back home!

    "Do not try to stop me." Toriel says as you follow her to the end of the hall. "This is your final warning." Then she continues around the corner. You stay on her heels. She stops in front of a door. A door you notice that has the same symbol as the one on her robes and that you've seen in other places in the Ruins. She's staring at the door and doesn't turn to look at you as she says, "You want to leave so badly? Hmph. You are just like the others. There is only one solution to this. Prove yourself. . . Prove to me that you are strong enough to survive."

    Then she finally turns around to stare you down, the red glow of your soul appearing tells you that she's serious if her expression didn't already. No! This isn't what you wanted! You squeeze your stick tightly in your hands against your chest. There has to be some other way! You try to think of anything to say to her, to make her stop this, but you can't think of anything. . .

    Fire starts shooting towards you, far faster than you had expected. You are unable to dodge some of the flames as you frantically move away. You cry out in pain while Toriel's face remains stern. Words escape you as you stare at her, your mouth opening as closing as your brain splutters to come up with something, _anything_ to say to her.

    Another wave of fire flies towards you and you do your best to avoid it, but still get hit. Toriel looks like she doesn't even see you anymore. She just stands there blocking the door as tears begin to prick at your eyes again. You don't think you could say anything to her that would get her to stop even if you could think of words. Why is she doing this to you? You don't want to fight her! Didn't she tell you not to fight monsters? Why is she trying to get you to fight her now?

    This time when the flames start coming you're ready for them and duck into a safe spot as they fly passed without touching you. Maybe if you just keep dodging her attacks she'll tire herself out? Your grip on the stick tightens again. You're not going to fight her! You don't want to hurt her, you're hurting her enough as it is by wanting to leave!

    You're not expecting it when Toriel swipes her hand in front of her, leaving a trail of flames in the air behind it. You duck out of the way of her swipe, but the fire hits you hard. Once more you cry out in pain. You just need to dodge her attack better, tire her out. You. . . You can do this! Toriel takes a deep breath and sends more fire your way, which you jump away from. You keep doing this as she shoots more fireballs at you, getting better at seeing their patterns and avoiding them. She does another swipe, but you see it coming this time and manage to get by without getting hit by her or the fire.

    "What are you doing?" Toriel asks before shooting more fire at you.

    "I'm not fighting you!" you say as you dodge the attack.

    "Attack or run away!" Toriel commands.

    "No!" you shout before getting hit with another fireball. You grit your teeth.

    "What are you proving this way?" Toriel asks, giving another swipe. This attack is easier to dodge than the others. "Fight me or leave!" Toriel continues as you catch your breath. You refuse to fight back as she sends another magical attack your way. You stare her down as you dodge it.

    "Stop it." she says as you jump out of the way. "Stop looking at me that way."

    Finally she can't seem to bare looking in your direction. You're doing it! You're wearing her down! She's feeling guilty. Not guilty enough yet, though, as she sends more fire your way, but you know if you can just keep dodging you can get through this!

    "We don't have to be doing this!" you tell her. Her eyes snap back to you and her brows furrow.

    "Go away!" she says, swiping both her hands in front of her. You weave around the attack.

    "Toriel, please!" you beg her. She doesn't want to do this any more than you do, you can tell. She looks away sadly for a brief moment. Just a little bit more, you almost have her! You're getting tired, however, and it's getting harder to dodge her attacks. Another fireball hits you and you hiss in pain. This time your response gets a reaction out of Toriel. She looks pained herself as she looks away from you. Another stream of fire comes your way, but it's much feebler than the previous ones. When you easily dodge it Toriel sadly looks back at you.

    "I know you want to go home, but. . . but please. . . go back upstairs now. I promise I will take good care of you." she says before giving you a sad smile. "I know we don't have much, but. . . We can have a good life here."

    "Toriel. . . I can't." you say.

    "Why are you making this so difficult?" she asks sadly. "Please, go upstairs." she says, looking away from you again. You say nothing in response and stay planted where you are. She looks like she's about to cry. Then she smiles sadly again and gives a soft chuckle.

    "Pathetic, is it not?" she says as she looks back at you. "I can not save even a single child." She pauses and looks away again before looking more serious, but no less sad and returning her gaze back to you.

    "No, I understand. You would just be unhappy trapped down here. The Ruins are very small once you get used to them. It would not be right for you to grow up in a place like this. My expectations. . . My loneliness. . . My fear. . . For you, my child. . . I will put them aside."

    Finally your soul sinks back into your chest and you breathe a sigh of relief, lightly touching your chest where it had disappeared from view. Your eyes quickly travel back to Toriel as she continues talking, though.

    "If you truly wish to leave the Ruins. . . I will not stop you. However, when you leave. . . Please do not come back. I hope you understand."

    Toriel then kneels to hug you and you find yourself clinging back to her, burying your face in her fur. You do understand. It's not fair. You never wanted to hurt her. All too quickly, though, the hug ends.

    "Goodbye, my child." she says before walking pass you. You turn to watch her and she stops at the mouth of the hall. She turns to look back at you. You feel like you should say something. Maybe she wants to say something too? Before you can open your mouth, though, she quickly turns away and briskly walks back down the hall. You watch her go until you can't see her anymore then you turn to face the large door ahead of you. A moment later you press your hand against it and push it open to step through.

    Behind the door is another hallway. You begin walking. You can feel your heart thumping in your chest as you go. It is a very long hallway. All you can hear is your own breathing and your footsteps. You feel utterly alone, but you press onward. Eventually you come to a huge doorway that leads to a dark room. Darker than you've seen in a while, but ahead you can see a shaft of light. A shaft of light illuminating a flower.

    You stop in front of Flowey, grip tightening on your stick. You never thought Toriel would kill you, but Flowey has proven to have no problems with doing that. You will defend yourself if it comes to that.

    "Clever. Verrrryy clever." the flower says with a smug smile. "You think you're really smart, don't you? In this world, it's kill or be killed. So you were able to play by your own rules." Flowey's expression becomes ghastly as it continues, "You spared the life of a single person. Hee hee hee. . ."

    You glare at the flower as it gives you that smug smile again.

    "I bet you feel really great. You didn't kill anybody this time. But what will you do if you meet a relentless killer? You'll die and you'll die and you'll die. Until you tire of trying. What will you do then?" Flowey says before changing to a demented grin. "Will you kill out of frustration? Or will you give up entirely on this world. . . and let _me_ inherit the power to control it? I am the prince of this world's future."

    "Stop it!" you shout.

    "Don't worry, my little monarch, my plan isn't regicide. This is _so_ much more interesting." he says before enlarging his face and laughing maniacally at you. Then suddenly he shoots into the ground and is gone. You approach the spot where he was, but it's like he was never there at all. You run towards the other doorway you can just make out from this shaft of light. You want to get as far away from that evil flower as possible. Wherever it may be.

    There are some heavy doors in your way. You throw your whole weight against them and force them open. Suddenly you're out in the light again. The doors slam behind you as you blink and adjust to your new surroundings. There's snow on the ground and trees. . . Did you finally make it out? Are you back on the surface? No, that can't be right, it's not winter and these trees don't look anything like the ones you're familiar with. You look up and see no sky, only darkness.

    At least it's not the Ruins you tell yourself as you lean against the doors. You reach into your pocket and pull out your phone. You wish Toriel was here with you. She told you not to come back, but maybe. . . Maybe you can still talk to her? You call her up and wait. The phone rings and rings, but there's no answer. With a sigh you hang up and put the phone back in your pocket. It was too much to hope for, you suppose. You have to continue on alone. There's a path ahead of you. You might as well follow it and see where it goes.


	3. Chapter 3

    It's so quiet in this snowy forest. Quiet and cold. You're glad you're wearing long sleeves. You wonder how big the forest is. It seems to go on forever. It feels very lonely here, surrounded by the tall, thin trees and the snow. It's strange how you feel even more alone out here than you did when Toriel asked you to wait in that room. Maybe because this time you know Toriel won't be coming to get you. . . All you can do is keep pressing forward. You'll find your way back home. Eventually.

    There's a branch lying across the path and you allow yourself a moment of levity as you jump over it. You stick the landing and continue on, but it's not long until you hear a cracking sound. The noise startles you in the quiet and you whirl around. There's nothing around you, but your eyes fall on the branch you had jumped over. It's been smashed to pieces. Your heart begins to thump in your chest. How did that happen? Your eyes dart around again, but you still see nothing but snow and trees. You turn and head down the path once more, walking a little quicker than you had before.

    As you go the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. You don't dare stop and look around again. You just keep going. You're probably just getting spooked over nothing. Yeah, nothing to worry about here! The feeling doesn't go away, however. In fact, it begins to feel like there's someone right behind you. Does that sound like footsteps? You gradually pick up the pace as you go, but you never start running.

    Ahead of you is a small chasm with a bridge going across it. There's some sort of archway going across the bridge. You stop at the edge of the chasm, suddenly too frightened to go any further. The lack of railings worries you. What if you fall off the bridge? What's even on the other side further into the forest? Before you can shake yourself loose of this thought process and keep going, however, you hear the definite crunching of snow. Something is coming closer. It's walking right up to you, slow and steady. Your muscles refuse to move. You hold your breath and wait.

    "Human." says a slow voice right behind you. "Don't you know how to greet a new pal? Turn around and shake my hand."

    Every so slowly you turn your body to face whoever, whatever, it is, heart pounding in your chest. A stout skeleton no taller than yourself stands before you. It pulls a bony hand from its hoodie pocket and offers it to you. Nervously you grab the hand. Something deflates between your two hands and lets out a rather rude noise. You're too shocked to do anything but keep holding the skeleton's hand as the whoopee cushion slowly releases its air.

    "Heheh. . . The old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. It's _always_ funny," the skeleton says as it pulls its hand away and stows it back in its pocket. "Anyways, you're human, right?"

    You can do nothing but stare at the skeleton. Your brain is having trouble processing what just happened.

    "That's hilarious," the skeleton says as it looks amused at some private joke you can't comprehend. "I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton. I'm actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now, but. . . y'know. . . I don't really care about capturing anybody. Now my brother, Papyrus. . . He's a human-hunting _fanatic_. Hey, actually, I think that's him over there."

    The skeleton glances over your shoulder before continuing on, "I have an idea. Go through this gate thingy." You look at the archway (or "gate thingy") and then back at Sans. "Yeah, go right through," the skeleton encourages you. "My bro made the bars too wide to stop anyone." With that said he quickly guides you across the bridge and into a little clearing that has a small stand and, strangely enough, a lamp.

    "Quick, behind that conveniently-shaped lamp." Sans says and you scurry to hide behind it without a second thought. It seems to be just the exact height and shape of your own body. Unfortunately this means you don't dare move an inch once you step behind it, for fear of exposing yourself. You also can't look around it so you are left blindly standing still and waiting as you hear someone else approaching from the other end of the clearing.

    " 'Sup, bro?" you hear Sans say.

    "You know what 'sup', brother!" says a much louder voice. "It's been eight days and you still haven't. . . Recalibrated. Your. Puzzles! You just hang around outside your station! What are you evening doing?!"

    "Staring at this lamp. It's really cool. Do you wanna look?" Sans replies and your heart seems to stop for a moment.

    "NO!!" the other person cries out and you relax ever so slightly. "I don't have time for that!! What if a human comes through here?!" You can hear them stomping furiously in the snow. "I want to be ready!!! I will be the one! I must be the one! I will capture a human!"

    They finally stop stomping as they continue, "Then, I, The Great Papyrus. . . will get all the things I utterly deserve! Respect. . . Recognition. . . I will finally be able to join the Royal Guard! People will ask. To. Be my. 'Friend'? I will bathe in a shower of kisses every morning."

    "Hmm. . ." Sans replies. "Maybe this lamp will help you." What is he doing?!

    "Sans!! You are not helping!! You lazybones!!" Papyrus exclaims. "All you do is sit and boondoggle! You get lazier and lazier every day!!!" You can hear more angry stomping.

    "Hey, take it easy. I've gotten a _ton_ of work done today. A skele- _ton_." You can't believe this is happening right now.

    "SANS!!"

    "Come on. You're smiling."

    "I am and I hate it!" Papyrus says before sighing and continuing, "Why does someone as great as me. . . have to do so much just to get some recognition. . ."

    "Wow, sounds like you're really working yourself. . ." You can feel it coming. "Down to the bone." You have to stop yourself from groaning out loud. Papyrus has no such problem letting his objection being heard.

    "UGH!!! I will attend to my puzzles. . . As for your work? Put a little more 'backbone' into it!!!!" he says before cackling and running off. A moment later you hear him come back to add one last "Heh!" before leaving again. You don't dare move yet.

    "O.K., you can come out now." Sans says and you take a cautious step out. Papyrus is nowhere in sight. You walk up to Sans to give him a piece of your mind for trying to give you away. Before you can open your mouth, though, he says, "You oughta get going. He might come back and if he does. . . You'll have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes." He winks at you. Sans doesn't seems like a bad guy. You guess him trying to get his brother to look at your hiding spot was just another one of his many jokes. After all, Papyrus never seemed interested in investigating the lamp and Sans probably knew he wouldn't be.

    "What's the holdup?" Sans asks as you stand there contemplating. "Look, there's nothing to be afraid of. It's just a dark cavern filled with skeletons and horrible monsters." He gives you another wink. You take a step back. Then you turn and start walking down the path again. You're not sure if you really like Sans' jokes. Can you really trust him? He's making you feel uneasy.

    "Actually, hey. . ." Sans calls out as you walk off. "Hate to bother ya, but can you do me a favor?" You stop and turn to look back at him.

    "What is it?" you ask.

    "I was thinking. . . My brother's been kind of down lately. . . He's never seen a human before and seeing you might just make his day. Don't worry, he's not dangerous. Even if he tries to be. Thanks a million. I'll be up ahead." he says before walking off back the way the two of you had come. You blink as he disappears from view. Once again you wonder if you can really trust him as you turn to keep walking.

    As you walk you think about how odd that lamp was. It was perfectly you-shaped. Plus there's no place to plug it in out here in the woods. It was just sitting there, being a convenient hiding spot for you. Almost like you were _meant_ to hide behind it. Like you being here, and all the things you've gone through, there's a reason for it all. You're not going to let it all go to waste. You're determined to see this through until the end! You're going to get out of here and be the bravest person ever!

    The tall, thin trees from earlier are gone now and are replaced by evergreens. They are still too thick to see through, though. All you can do is follow the path, which splits in two directions. There is a box with a sign next to it that says, _"This is a box. You can put an item inside or take an item out. There are many like it. They are all connected so the items will appear in those ones as well. Sincerely, a box lover."_ You peek inside the box and see a worn glove made of pink leather. You decide to leave the glove where it is. Someone put it in there for a reason.

    Taking the upper path you don't get very far before a monster jumps out from behind the trees. It looks like some kind of large bird with a head that reminds you of a snowflake. It fluffs up its blue feathers and says, "Ice puns are 'snow' problem."

    You can't help but let out a quick laugh of surprise at that before you quickly have to dodge out of the way of some magical snow. The creature seems to brighten at your chuckle and says, "See?! Laughs! Dad was wrong!" Before you can do anything else the monster darts off and somehow disappears into the trees. It looks like they just wanted to make people laugh. You feel a bit bad for them, apparently their father doesn't support them. Still, what a weird encounter.

    Continuing up the path you find it ends at a river. There's a fishing pole affixed to the ground nearby. Curious you reel the line submerged in the water back up. A photo has been stuck on the hook of a weird-looking monster. Confused you turn it over and find a note written on the back. _"Call me! Here's my number!"_ There's a series of digits below. You decide to put the photo back into the water and walk away. You don't understand what the purpose of that is, but you decide to just leave it alone and not mess with it. You're definitely not calling the number.

    Travelling back down the path since this was a bust you go the other direction, but as you start walking up this new path you hear a voice.

    "So, as I was saying about Undyne. . ."

    You stop in your tracks. Ahead of you on the path stand two skeletons. One is Sans and the other, taller one, can only be Papyrus. He seems to be wearing some kind of. . . armor? He notices you and turns toward you in surprise. Then he turns to face his brother as Sans turns to look at you. The two skeletons look between you and each other multiple times changing direction faster and faster. It makes your head spin to watch them. _Their_ heads even begin to spin. Literally. Suddenly they stop and face you fully before quickly turning their backs to you.

    "Sans!! Oh my god!! Is that. . . _A HUMAN?!?!?!?!?!_ " Papyrus cries out. Then they quickly turn around and face you again.

    "Uhhhh. . . Actually, I think that's a rock." Sans says. You blink in confusion and then follow his gaze over your shoulder. A rock sits behind you on the path.

    "Oh." Papyrus says, sounding disappointed.

    "Hey," Sans says. "What's that in front of the rock?"

    Papyrus turns to look in your direction again and cries out, "OH MY GOD!!!" before turning to his brother and stage whispering, "Is. . . Is _that_ a human?"

    "Yes." Sans stage whispers back.

    " _OH MY GOD!!!_ " Papryus cries out in utter delight. "Sans! I finally did it!! Undyne will- I'm gonna- I'll be so. . . Popular!!! POPULAR!!! _POPULAR!!!_ "

    You're beginning to get the feeling that Sans was right about his brother not actually being all that dangerous. He sounds. . . Well, he sounds like a little kid. Not a very bright one at that.

    Papyrus clears his throat (do skeletons even have throats?) and fixes you with a stern expression before bellowing, "Human! You shall not pass this area! I, The Great Papyrus, will stop you!!! I will then capture you! You will be delivered to the capital! Then. . . Then!!!" Papyrus looks a tad confused for a moment as he says, "I'm not sure what's next." Then he returns to his previous bravado. "In any case! Continue. . . only if you dare!!!" With his speech finished he cackles gleefully and runs off deeper into the forest.

    With his chuckles still being heard in the distance Sans turns to you and says, "Well, that went well. Don't sweat it, kid. I'll keep an eye socket out for ya." He gives you another wink and then treks off after his brother. There's nowhere else for you to go so you follow after them. Hopefully this won't be so bad. You still feel uneasy, but neither of the skeletons have been _particularly_ hostile towards you. Sure, Papyrus wants to capture you, but he just ran off instead of, you know, actually capturing you.

    Suddenly your phone starts ringing. Could it be? Is Toriel calling you?! Maybe she just missed your call earlier! You can talk to her! Your heart swells with hope and you can't stop the grin from growing on your face as you answer.

    "Hello?!" you answer excitedly.

    "Hey. Is your refrigerator running?" Your face falls and it feels like your heart has shattered. That's not Toriel's voice. It. . . It sounds like _Sans's_. Your utter disappointment makes it hard for you to even understand what he just said. Refrigerator? _What?_

    "N-no?" you answer as you try to wrap your brain around what's happening. _What_ refrigerator?

    "O.K., I'll send someone over to fix it. Thanks for letting me know. Good communication skills are important."

    He hangs up and you stare dumbly at your phone. It wasn't Toriel. . . It wasn't Toriel and instead it was Sans trying to. . . prank call you? Your vision starts to blur and suddenly you're _furious_! You throw the phone and snarl as your drop to your knees. Your stick falls on the ground beside you as you use both hands to press against your eyes, wiping at the tears that begin to fall.

    You _hate_ this. Why is this happening? All you want to do is be back home where everything is safe and normal. You don't want to deal with ruins or snowy forests. You are _sick_ of dealing with monsters! Why does everyone want something from you? Flowey wanted to kill you, Toriel wanted to keep you as her own child, Papyrus wants to capture you and ship you off to the capital, and Sans. . . Sans is just using you as the butt of his jokes just like _all the kids back at school_. YOU WANT OUT OF HERE!

    You move your legs around so your butt is planted on the cold ground and you double over as you cry. You don't bother to stop yourself. You're so scared and frustrated. You're bruised and you're tired. Let anyone who may see you think you're a baby. You don't care anymore! Snot begins to drip out of your nose as you continue making loud, ugly noises. Your arms wrap around your midsection, giving yourself a hug you so desperately wish to receive at the moment. Rocking slightly you sniff up the gross snot and continue to cry. Before long your loud cries devolve into hiccups as you gasp for breath. You flop to your side, not caring how cold the ground is, and curl in on yourself as your crying begins to quiet into pathetic whimpers and sniffles. Slowly, even those fade away and you are left exhausted and cold. You don't move, laying motionless on the ground and letting your tight muscles slowly unwind from all the tension. You just want to go home.

    Finally the cold pressed up against your face is too much to bare and you slowly sit up. You wipe your face clean of any snot and tears (and snowy dirt) with one of your sleeves. Then you grab your stick and slowly raise yourself to your feet, brushing the rest of your body off too. You can't stay here. You have to keep going. Filling your lungs with a deep breath you slowly exhale and walk over to where your phone landed in the snow. You don't want to lose it just in case. . . Just in case Toriel _does_ call you. Brushing snow off of it you hope it didn't get wet or break at all. After stowing it away safely in your pocket you continue on down the path. Further along, tucked away in some trees, you find what looks like a little play house, built out of cardboard boxes and fastened together with. . . uncooked pasta?

    There appears to be a note scrawled onto the box. You read it. _"YOU OBSERVE THE WELL-CRAFTED SENTRY STATION. WHO COULD HAVE BUILT THIS, YOU PONDER. . . I BET IT WAS THAT VERY FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN! (NOTE: NOT YET A VERY FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN.)"_ You stare at the note for a moment, then you frown. Papyrus. Does this skeleton honestly think it can capture you? Ha! You'd like to see him try! He can't even make a proper station! There's no way Papyrus is going to stop you. You're on a mission. Nothing is going to stop you. Nothing.

    Another creature suddenly jumps out at you as you are lost in thought. You shriek and flail your stick out in front of you in surprise. You accidentally hit whatever monster it is and for a terrifying second you think you knocked its head clean off! However you see it was only an icy hat that the monster was wearing.

    "Oh no! I'm sorry!" you say as you bend down to pick up the hat and offer it back to them. Unfortunately, as soon as you touch it the hat melts in your hands. The monster looks absolute distraught and folds in on itself, resembling a large ice cube.

    "I. . . I. . ." it sounds so heart broken and you feel terrible.

    "Oh gosh! I didn't mean to! Honest! I am sooo sorry!" you quickly say, trying to placate the poor thing. It does nothing in response.

    "H-hey! Who needs a hat anyway? You look great without it!" you offer nervously.

    "I wanted you to see me as cool." it says sadly.

    "Well, I still do." you say with a smile. That seems to do the trick and the ice monster leaves you alone, sliding away in the snow. You still feel pretty terrible about ruining their hat, though. It feels almost as bad as telling Toriel you didn't want to live with her. . .

    Continuing on down the path you spy a little hut and a sign. You stop to read the sign, which reads, _"Absolutely NO MOVING!!!"_ You pause for a moment then slowly turn your head to look around. You don't see anything around, save for the hut and that appears to be empty. Are there booby traps hidden in the snow? Why else are you told not to move? Well you can't just _stay_ here, standing in front of this sign. You take a single step and then wait. Nothing happens. So you take a couple more, slow steps. Still nothing. Shrugging you decide to keep going, but you walk slowly just in case. As you pass by the hut a head raises from behind the counter.

    "Did something move?" says the shifty-eyed dog, a dog treat hanging out of their mouth. "Was it my imagination? I can only see moving things. If something _was_ moving. . . for example, a human. . . I'll make sure it _never_ moves again!"

    Next thing you know your soul appears and the dog's eyes narrow onto its appearance. It pulls out two, long daggers and says, "Don't move an inch!"

    You hold your breath as one of the daggers turns blue and the dog slowly swipes it out in front of them. Seeing it coming towards you you quickly close your eyes and pray that it doesn't stab you. When nothing immediately happens you open one eye just in time to see the dagger phasing harmlessly out of your body. What a surprising development! You remain still as the dog looks around some more.

    "Will it move this time?" it says before repeating the same motion as before. This time you watch as the blade slices right through you without causing any harm. What are you going to do? None of these attacks seem to hurt you, but so far the dog has only attacked with what you can only assume to be a magical dagger. The other dagger hasn't turned blue and if the dog can only see _moving_ things what's to say it won't attack you with that one if you try to run away? Suddenly you're struck with an idea. What if you try and _confuse_ the dog? It can't see you right now and it _is_ a dog. . . You quickly reach up and pet the top of its head.

    "WHAT!!! I'VE BEEN PET!!!" the dog cries out, immediately losing it's suspicious expression. "POT? PET? POT? PAT? PET? PAT? POT? POT?" it barks excitedly as it swings its blue dagger around. You freeze instantly before the weapon touches your body and it phases through you. The dog quickly regains its composure and shifty gaze once more before saying, "S-s-s-something pet me. . . Something that isn't m-m-moving. . . I'm gonna need some dog treats for this!!!" Then it sinks back down behind the counter.

    Now out of its line of sight you decide it is the best time to get out of here. You quickly jog down the path ad away from the dog's hut. You don't want to get in another fight with it! As you go you pass by a smoldering pile of dog treats, but you're too busy making your escape to stop and ponder what is going on there. You're so busy, in fact, that you almost run into Sans!

    "Hey, here's something important to remember," he says as you come to a halt, obviously ignoring your mild panic and speaking casually. "My brother has a very _special attack_. If you see a _blue attack_ , don't move and it won't hurt you."

    "You mean like that dog back there?" you ask as you look back the way you came. Sans gives you a smile that makes you think you're the butt of some joke again before continuing as if he hadn't even heard you.

    "Here's an easy way to keep it in mind. Imagine a stop sign. When you see a stop sign, you _stop_ , right? Stop signs are _red_. So imagine a _blue_ stop sign instead. Simple, right? When fighting, think of _blue stop signs_." he says. You blink at him.

    "That's not simple at all, it's just confusing," you say. "It's a lot easier to just think blue means stop than thinking of signs. . ."

    Sans just smiles at you and doesn't say anything else. You give him a look before walking away, keeping your eyes on him. He remains where he is, watching you go. His grin widens and you wonder what that's about before suddenly you foot slips from under you and you go skidding across some ice on the ground.

    "Aaaah!" you cry out as your attention snaps away from Sans and your arms flail abound as you try to steady yourself. Luckily you don't actually fall down, but you do slip and slide until running into a sign to which you cling to for dear life. A quick glance tells you that it's some sort of weather warning. . . Or map? It says there's ice in all directions, but also that Snowdin Town is to the east. Carefully you extract yourself from the sign and find the the ground around it seems pretty solid. Looking back at Sans you see him watching you intently, still grinning. He must have been waiting for you to walk onto the ice, he probably got a real kick out of watching you skid across and hit the sign.

    You don't like that. You don't want to be laughed at! He could have warned you about the ice, but instead he eagerly waited to see if you were going to fall over! What a jerk. You frown at the skeleton and then take a step away from the sign. Unfortunately there's still plenty of ice so you slip around some more, but not as bad as before. You get across the ice after a couple of slippery (and terrifying) steps. Back on the safe snow you throw Sans another look and then walk on through the trees. Ahead of you it looks like someone built a snowman. You walk up to it and as you do it begins to talk!

    "Hello. I am a snowman." it says cheerily.

    "Oh! Um, h-hello." you reply as you stop in front of it.

    "I want to see the world. . . but I can not move. If you would be so kind, traveler, please. . . take a piece of me a bring it very far away." the snowman says.

    "Uh, O.K. Sure." you say. Then you reach out and hesitate. You don't really feel like putting a handful of snow in your pocket to melt. "Um, can I take your nose?" you ask.

    "Certainly." replies the snowman. "Thank you. . . Good luck!"

    You pluck the snowman's carrot nose from its face and stow it in your pocket. You'll have to remember not to eat it if you get hungry. You also vaguely wonder if this carrot came from one of those carrot monsters from the Ruins. Looking around you see this path is a dead end as it appears to be some sort of cliff. Bidding the snowman a farewell you turn back the way you came.

    You stick close to the trees in order to avoid stepping back onto the ice as you make your way to the other path you saw from the sign. You don't get very far down the path, though, as you come to a clearing and see two skeletons waiting on the other side of it. Sans must have run up ahead while you investigated the snowman. Papyrus seems to be yelling at him and not notice you yet as you come to a stop.

    "You're so lazy!!" he shouts. "You were napping all night!!"

    "I think that's called. . . sleeping." Sans replies.

    "Excuses, excuses!" Papyrus exclaims before finally noticing you. "Oh-ho! The human arrives!" he says as he and his brother turn towards you. "In order to stop you. . . my brother and I have created some puzzles! I think you will find this one. . . quite shocking!!! For you see, this is the invisible. . . Electricity Maze!!! When you touch the walls of this maze, this orb will administer a hearty zap!"

    At that the skeleton pulls out a blue orb and holds it out proudly. Your gut begins to twist nervously as you look at it. You don't like the sound of that.

    "Sound like fun???" the skeleton continues. "Because! The amount of fun you will probably have, _is actually rather small I think_. O.K., you can go ahead now."

    You stay where you are, clutching your stick close to your chest. You look between the snow clearing in front of you and the skeletons. You don't really want to step out there and get electrocuted.

    "Oh come on, human!" Papyrus cries out impatiently as you refuse to move. "Won't you at least _try_ my puzzle?"

    Well. . . There's nothing for you back the way you came. If you never try anything you'll never get anywhere. Sucking in a breath you steel yourself to attempt the puzzle. You take a step forward and run into an invisible wall. Before you can even react to that, however, your attention is drawn to Papyrus who starts convulsing and looks. . . a bit singed.

    "SANS!!!" he cries out a moment later as he begins to throw a tantrum. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!?!"

    "I think the human has to hold the orb." Sans says, looking amused.

    "Oh, O.K." Papyrus says, calming down immediately. Then he starts to walk across the clearing in a winding pattern until he comes up to your side. "Hold this, please!" he says as he hands you the orb. You stare at it before watching him scurry back over to his brother. "O.K., try now!" he calls out to you.

    You look in front of you. Papyrus left tracks in the snow. You look back at Papyrus. Then you begin walking through the footprints he left behind, careful to place you feet exactly in each boot print just in case. Soon enough you're on the other side without any problems at all. You hold out the orb to a dumbfounded Papyrus.

    "Incredible!! You slippery snail!!" he says as he takes the orb from you. "You solved it so easily. . . Too easily! However!! The next puzzle will not be so easy! It is designed by my brother, Sans! You will surely be confounded! I know I am!" Then he runs off with his signature cackle. You look over at Sans.

    "Hey, thanks. . . My brother seems like he's having fun," he says. "By the way, did you see that weird outfit he's wearing? We made that a few weeks ago for a costume party. He hasn't worn anything else since. . . Keeps calling it his 'battle body'. Man. Isn't my brother cool?"

    "Um. . ." You're not really sure what to say to that. You thought it was actual armor, but he's really just playing dress-up? Papyrus really is seeming like less of a threat the more you get to know him. Sans doesn't seem like a threat either, but there's still something about him you don't like. Maybe if he stopped acting like he was secretly laughing at you. . . Speaking of Sans, didn't Papyrus say the next puzzle was designed by him?

    "What's the next puzzle?" you ask him. Sans just smiles and winks at you. "You're not going to tell me?" you ask.

    "I told ya, kid, I've got an eye socket out for ya. Don't worry about it." he finally says.

    It doesn't seem like you're going to get anything out of him so you continue on, leaving him behind and chasing after where is brother ran off to. You must be walking up an incline because there are more drop-offs on either side of you and you can see treetops when you peek over. A lot more tress than there are where you currently are. Trees aren't the only things around here, though. There's also a blue rabbit who looks quite sad leaning up against a vendor cart.

    "I don't understand why these aren't selling. . . It's the perfect weather for something cold. . ." he sighs to himself as you cautiously approach him. He notices you and instantly perks up saying, "OH!!!! A CUSTOMER!!! Hello! Would you like some Nice Cream? It's the frozen treat that warms your heart! Now just 15g!"

    "No, thank you." you say. It really _isn't_ the perfect weather for a frozen treat. Plus you aren't really hungry right now.

    "Well then. . . tell your friends. . . there's ice cream. . . out in the middle of the woods. . ." he says, giving you a smile which you feel might be a little forced.

    As you walk away from the bunny you notice Sans in the distance. Wait, didn't you just leave him back at the invisible maze? You look back over your shoulder then once more at him. He's just standing there, minding his own business, paying you no mind. You walk across a short bridge as you make your way to him.

    "What are you doing here?" you ask him, utterly confounded how he got pass you.

    "I've been thinking about treats too." he says, casting a glance over at the ice cream bunny. "Want some fried snow? It's just 5g."

    You make a face at him. Fried snow would just be water. . . and oil. You refuse his offer.

    "You're right. I should charge way more than that." he says. You can't help but let out a little laugh at that. He smiles at you and then closes his eyes. You guess you should leave him alone to think about his fried snow endeavors. You look around to try and figure out where to go from here. A bit further ahead you see a couple more of those little huts and the surrounding area drop off into another cliff. You don't really want to get near them in case there's other monsters waiting inside to stop you like that dog. Elsewhere you see a giant snowball, like someone started making a snowman and then gave up. There also is a large pathway leading down. You would feel better not being so high up so you follow it.

    After walking for a little bit you spy two familiar skeletons. How on earth is Sans getting ahead of you like that? It's like he can teleport or be in two places at once. . . Maybe he _can_ do those things? You've been watching monsters using magic since you got here, after all.

    "Human!!!" Papyrus calls out when he sees you approaching. "I hope you're ready for. . . Sans!! Where's the puzzle?!?!"

    "It's right there. On the ground." Sans replies. You look at the ground and lo and behold there's a piece of paper laying between you and the skeletons. "Trust me. There's no way they can get past this one." the short skeleton continues.

    You walk over to it and pick up the paper. It's. . . a word search. A fairly simple one by the looks of it at that. You're not really sure what this is supposed to do. It's a puzzle, sure, but it can't really _stop_ you. Plus there isn't even a pen or anything so you can actually _do_ it. You fold up the paper and put it in your pocket (you don't want to litter) before walking up to the skeletons. You're not scared of them anymore, so you don't mind getting this close to them.

    "Sans!!! That didn't do anything!" Papyrus cries out.

    "Whoops. I knew I should have used today's crossword instead." Sans says and you can't stop yourself from smiling at his joke.

    "What?! Crossword?!" Papryus practically shouts. "I can't believe you just said that!! In my opinion. . . Junior Jumble is easily the hardest."

    "What? Really, dude? That easy-peasy word scramble?" Sans replies. "That's for baby-bones."

    "Un. Believable." Papyrus says in exasperation. "Human!!! Solve this dispute!"

    "Uh. . ." You look between the two skeletons. You don't really like being put on the spot like this. Papyrus is waiting for you to answer. "Crosswords are harder." you finally say.

    "You two are weird!" Papyrus announces. "Crosswords are so easy. It's the same solution every time. I just fill all the boxes with the letter 'z'. . . because every time I look at a crossword. . . ALL I CAN DO IS SNORE!!! NYEH HEH HEH!!!"

    With that apparently settled Papyrus runs off once again.

    "Papyrus. . . finds difficulty in interesting place." Sans says after he's gone. "Yesterday he got stumped trying to 'solve' the horoscope."

    Yeah, Papyrus definitely isn't the brightest, you're coming to learn. You leave Sans and continue on the path. He'll probably be ahead of you soon enough so there's no reason to stick around. As you go, you come across a strange sight. There's two tables out in the open. One has what appears to be a plate of spaghetti and the other supports a microwave. You stop in front of the bizarre sight. The microwave has no power, the cord sitting uselessly in the snow. All the settings say 'spaghetti'. You begin to wonder if it's even a real microwave as you investigate the plate of pasta. It's frozen. You can't even move it as the entire plate has become frozen to the table. Why is this all here?

    You notice a piece of paper lying on the ground. You pick it up and read, _"HUMAN!! PLEASE ENJOY THIS SPAGHETTI. (LITTLE DO YOU KNOW, THIS SPAGHETTI IS A TRAP. . .) (DESIGNED TO ENTICE YOU!!!) (YOU WILL BE SO BUSY EATING IT. . .) (THAT YOU WON'T REALIZE THAT YOU AREN'T PROGRESSING!!) (THOROUGHLY JAPED AGAIN BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS!!!) NYEH-HEH-HEH, PAPYRUS"_ Well. . . That certainly is something. You give another look at the spaghetti. Yeah, there's no way for you to eat that. You fold up the note and store it with the word search. Before you leave you notice another little mouse hole. Some squeaking can be heard inside and you smile. Maybe the mouse can find a way to heat up the spaghetti and enjoy it. It'll have to really work at it to do so, though. Just as hard as you'll have to work to get out of here, it seems, but you can do it! You're determined!

    As you walk away from the spaghetti you pass by a sign. _"Warning: Dog Marriage"_ it reads. You stop and look at the sign more closely. There's a note under the warning. _"(Yes, you read that correctly.)"_ Huh. You wonder what that's about? Is there a wedding going on that you aren't supposed to interrupt? You look around, but don't see anyone. In fact, you don't see much of anything save for some snow and trees.

    You begin walking again, continuing to head down the slope. As you go a dog wearing armor walks out from behind a tree. It's carrying a large shield and sword. You're afraid it's going to attack you when your soul appears, but all it does is bark happily and wag its tail. You smile and reach out to pet the dog. It raises its head to your hand and pants excitedly. Then it jumps at you as it gives another happy bark. You avoid it crashing into you and give it another pet. It raises its head more and waves its sword around in excitement. You have to do some dodging to avoid getting hurt. It doesn't seem like it actually wants to hurt you, it's just an excited dog.

    Since it doesn't seem like it actually wants to fight you keep petting. You begin to notice that its neck appears to be growing longer. . . It's barking happily as it waves its sword again. Dodging it you pet it more. Yes. Its neck is definitely growing longer. The dog begins to jump around again. It's making excited sounds as you reach up to pet it. The dog almost seems to be vibrating with happiness. You're beginning to worry about its neck thing. . .

    "O.K., that's enough petting, I have to go." you say as you back away. The dog doesn't follow you. You better stop now before something _really_ weird happens. You leave the dog alone to its own devices and hope it calms down soon.

    As you continue on your path down your feet kick up some of the snow and you pause when you see something underneath. Using your stick you brush away more of the snow. It looks like someone drew a map on the ground! This looks like the surrounding area, if you had to take a guess. You look around some and see the only way forward is blocked by some spikes. There's a red 'x' in the top corner of the map. Maybe if you go there you can find someway forward? Or maybe even some treasure!

    You walk back up the path. The 'x' was between three blobs of some kind. You wander around for a little bit before you see three trees. Maybe that was it? Walking between the trees you begin digging your toe in the snow, trying to find something. Eventually your shoe hits something hard. You bend down and brush away the snow, revealing a switch! You flip it and. . . nothing seems to happen. You frown. Maybe this is nothing after all? Or maybe it's broken? You make your way back down the slope to try and find some way around the spikes, but when you get there you find the spikes are gone! The switch worked after all!

    You cross a small bridge, but before you can get very far you see some hooded figures carrying axes approach you. You freeze.

    "What's that smell?" says one.

    "Where's that smell?" whispers the other.

    "If you're a smell. . ."

    "Identify yoursmellf!"

    Then the two monsters begin to frantically run around you, sniffing intently. They get closer and closer to you until they are standing on either side of you.

    "Hmmm. . . Here's that weird smell. . . It makes me want to eliminate."

    ". . . Eliminate YOU!"

    The two figures lower their hoods and reveal themselves to be yet more dogs as your soul glows in front of you. The two dogs kiss each other and you notice that they are wearing each other's faces on the front of their robes. Oh. This must be the 'Dog Marriage'. It's actually kind of cute. They seem to have just as bad eye sight as that first dog, though. They can't seem to actually see you, only smell you. Maybe if you changed your smell they won't be hostile to you anymore?

    Well, when with dogs act like dogs! You drop to the ground and begin to roll around. It's really cold, but you cover yourself in dirt and snow. The dogs start shooting out blue and white hearts at each other, with you in the middle. You manage to avoid them.

    "Number 2 Nose Nuzzle Champs '98!" the dog with a mustache says.

    "Of course we were second." his wife whispers.

    You walk up to the dogs after rolling around and they brandish their axes at you. You duck out of the way and then stand there. The dogs begin to sniff the air around you.

    "What! Smells like a. . ."

    "Are you actually a little puppy?"

    "Yep, I'm a puppy!" you agree quickly before reaching out and giving the male dog a friendly pat.

    "Wow!! Pet by another pup!!!" he exclaims in excitement.

    "Well don't leave me out!" his wife whispers sadly.

    They begin shooting out more hearts at each other. It's really sweet that this is one of their attacks. You avoid their lovey-dovey attack and give the female dog a nice pat, since she wanted one too.

    "A dog that pets dogs. . . Amazing!" she whispers in reverence.

    "Dogs can pet other dogs???" her husband asks.

    "A new world has opened up for us. . ." she whispers.

    "Thanks, weird puppy!"

    Then they both run off happily and you smile as you watch them go. That was kind of fun and maybe you've helped them with their marriage now that they know they can pet each other! Maybe you shouldn't be so scared of these monsters. When you haven't been frightened this whole adventure has been kind of fun. Well, most of it, at least.

    You follow the path and find what looks like another puzzle. There's a button, some piles of snow, some markings on the ground, a sign, another wall of spikes, and a tall skeleton standing on the other side of the spikes with his back to you. You walk up to the spikes.

    "Hey there, Papyrus." you say.

    Papyrus turns around and says, "What?! How did you avoid my trap and, more importantly. . . is there any left for me???"

    "Oh, uh. . . I didn't touch it." you admit. It's not like you could have eaten it even if you wanted to. Plus it sounds like _he_ wants to eat it.

    "Really?! Wowie. . ." Papyrus says, looking a little sad. "You resisted the flavor of my home-cooked pasta. . . just so you could share it with me???"

    Oh. That wasn't sadness on his face. He was _touched_. Uh, O.K. That's not what you meant, but you'll roll with it, if it means he doesn't want to battle you.

    "Fret not human!" Papyrus continues. "I, Master Chef Papyrus. . . will make you all the pasta you could ever want!" He then cackles and runs off before you can say anything. Well, that's good, you guess? If he wants to make you pasta he must not think of you as an enemy anymore! You haven't really been scared of him for a while now, but it would be nice to know that he wasn't out to get you anyway.

    You're still trapped behind the spikes, however. Looks like you're going to have to solve this puzzle if you want to continue. Walking over to the sign you read, _"Turn every X into an O. Then press the switch."_ The markings on the ground look like big X's, but how are you supposed to turn them into O's? You can't draw around them, the 'x' shape kind of ruins that. You walk around some of the snow piles to get a better look at the markings. You accidentally step on the one you're looking at and suddenly it changes shape and color! Instead of a blue 'x' it's now a red 'o'! Well that solves that then. You quickly walk around the other side and step on the other marking. Then you walk over and step on the button. As soon as you do the markings turn green and the spikes lower. That was simple enough!

    When you cross over you find Papyrus waiting for you further up the path.

    "My brother started a sock collection recently. How saddening. . ." he says as you walk up to him. "Sometimes I wonder what he would do. . . without such a cool guy taking care of him??? Nyeh heh heh!"

    "Oh, um, that's nice." you say as you keep walking. You can see what looks like another puzzle up ahead. Papyrus follows you.

    "Human! Hmmm. . . How do I say this. . . You were taking a long time to arrive, so. . . I decide to improve this puzzle. . . by arranging the snow to look more like my face," he says. "Unfortunately, the snow froze to the ground. Now the solution is different and, as usual, my lazy brother is nowhere around. I suppose what I'm saying is. . . Worry not, human!" Papyrus strikes a pose. "I, The Great Papyrus, will solve this conundrum! Then we can both proceed! Meanwhile, feel free to try the puzzle yourself! I'll try not to give away the answer!!!"

    Wow, he really doesn't care about stopping you anymore, does he? You wonder what made him change him mind. It's like he's. . . playing with you, and not in the mean way! He was waiting for you to get here and got bored. Now he's inviting you to continue on with him once the puzzle is solved. You watch him puzzle over the predicament he made. You look over the puzzle as well. It looks like the same kind as the last one, but a lot more complicated. You step around the snow and on the markings. They change to the red circles as you go, but soon your path takes you over a marking you've already changed. Now it's a green triangle. Oops. You don't think that's supposed to happen. You look over at the tall wall of spikes blocking your path. Yeah, this isn't going to work. You walk back over to Papyrus.

    "So, you want a hint, huh?" he says. "Well. . . I've been looking at the the puzzle. . . and I think the solution. . . is to turn all the x's into o's! You should try that! Ask again for more hints!" he says. He's standing next to a sign that says as much. You look between him and the sign.

    "Uh, yeah, I figured that out." you say. You're kind of puzzled by him trying to give you hints. Didn't he say he didn't know the solution either? How could he give you a hint if he's trying to solve it too?

    "Maybe solving the _last puzzle_ again will help." Papyrus offers as he stares at the puzzle. "Ask again for more great hints!!"

    "Will that actually change anything?" You ask.

    "EUREKA!!!" Papyrus suddenly shouts. "I've figured out the puzzle!!! You seem like you're having fun, though. . . Do you absolutely, dapsolutely want the solution???"

    You look back over at the puzzle. You're reminded of when Toriel did all the the puzzles for you, or told you how to solve them. You felt good when you solved the puzzles by yourself after she left. It made you feel like you were accomplishing something! Now someone else was giving you the opportunity to do it yourself without just doing it for you. You shake your head at Papyrus.

    "No I. . . I want to do it myself!" you say.

    "Wow. . . You're truly a puzzle passioneer! I'm so enthused by your enthusiasm!!! You can do it, human!!!" Papyrus says with a grin. Your chest swells as you smile back and nod at him. Then you run back over to the puzzle. You can solve this!

    You study the puzzle for a while, walking all around it. Suddenly you see it! You run around to the right spot and then begin walking through the maze of snow, changing the markings as you go. Before you know it all the x's have been turned to o's and you triumphantly jump onto the button. The markings turn green and the spikes lower.

    "Whoohoo!" you shout as you throw your arms in the air.

    "Wow!!! You solved it!!" Papyrus says. "My advice helped! It really helped you!! Incredible! I'm impressed!! You must care about puzzles like I do!"

    You beam at him. He sounds so happy and that in turn makes you happy!

    "Well, I'm sure you'll love the next puzzle then!" he continues. "It might even be too easy for you!!"

    He starts to cackle gleefully and then runs off excitedly before you can stop him. Oh, you were kind of looking forward to walking with him to the next puzzle. It would be nice to walk with someone, and he seems like a really nice guy now that you've spent some time with him. When you walk around the snow you find Sans waiting for you.

    "Good job on solving it so quickly. You didn't even need my help. Which is great, 'cause I love doing absolutely nothing." he says.

    "Where even were you?" you ask with a frown.

    "Right here, behind the spikes." he says.

    "How was I supposed to know that?!"

    Sans says nothing in response and you huff angrily at him before storming off. He's really getting on your nerves! When you reach a bridge you have to stop and blink. There's Sans and Papyrus waiting on the other side of a tiled floor for you. You're not even going to bother anymore. Sans just appears wherever and whenever he wants! Whatever! You don't care anymore!

    "Hey! It's the human!" Papyrus says happily. "You're gonna love this next puzzle! It was made by the great Dr. Alphys! You see these tiles?! Once I throw this switch. . . they will begin to change color! Each color has a different function! Red tiles are impassable! You can not walk on them! Yellow tiles are electric! They will electrocute you! Green tiles are alarm tiles! If you step on them. . . you will have to fight a monster!! Orange tiles are orange-scented. They will make you smell delicious! Blue tiles are water tiles. Swim through them if you like, but. . . if you smell like oranges the piranhas will bite you. Also, if a blue tile is next to a yellow the water will zap you! Purple tiles are slippery! You will slide to the next tile! However, the slippery soap. . . smells like lemons, which piranhas do not like! Purple and blue are O.K.! Finally pink tiles. They don't do anything. Step on them all you like. How was that?! Understand???"

    Your head is spinning. That was a lot of information to take in all at once. There are piranhas that don't like oranges, wait, no, they don't like lemons! So they will bite you if you smell like lemons. . . What did the green tiles do again? You look helplessly at the two skeletons.

    "No, I. . . Can you repeat that?" you ask.

    "O.K. . . . I guess I'll repeat myself. . ." Papyrus says, looking a bit disgruntled. "Red tiles are impassable. Yellow tiles are electric and dangerous. Blue tiles make you fight a monster. Green tiles are water tiles. Orange tiles are orange-scented. If you step on orange don't step on green. Brown tiles are. . . WAIT!!! There are no brown tiles. . . Purple tiles smell like lemons. . . Why don't yellow ones smell lemony? Um. . . Wait!!! Did I mix up green and blue?! The blue ones are water ones! Pink tiles. . . I don't. . . remember??? WAIT!!! Those ones don't do anything. O.K.! Do you understand now?!"

    Now you're even more confused! You're pretty sure you have to stay away from yellow tiles. There's something about the blue tiles, but now you can't remember what was special about them other than having water. You have to fight a monster at some point, is that was red tile do? You shake your head at Papyrus.

    ". . . O.K., you know what??? How about. . . you just. . . do this puzzle. . . on your own. . . I'll leave the instructions. . . Just read them. Then when you understand it. . . you can throw the switch and do it at your own pace. Good luck. Nyeh. . . Heh. . . Heh!" Papyrus says before leaving a piece of paper on the ground and sulkily walking off. Oh no, you think you've upset him. You walk across the bridge and the tiles to the paper, placed in front of some large machine you assume operates the tiles. You can't even read what it says. The handwriting is terrible! You still stow it in your pocket with the other bits of paper, though. You hope you run across a trash can soon for all of this.

    "Actually, that spaghetti from earlier. . ." Sans says from behind you. You turn around to look at him. "It wasn't too bad for my brother. Since he started cooking lessons he's been improving a lot. I bet if he keeps it up next year he'll even make something edible."

    You decide to not respond and instead follow after Papyrus. Maybe you can apologize to him for not understanding the instructions to his puzzle. He looked really disappointed. As you walk you see more of the tall, thin tree growing up from out of the darkness. You wonder if they are the same ones you walked through when you first exited the Ruins or if they are different trees. Then your eyes fall onto a more. . . bizarre sight. Littered all around are what appear to be a bunch of snowdogs. However, they are all neck and head, and all the heads have broken off from the necks due to the weight of the snow as the necks are long and winding. It's equal parts hilarious and disturbing. Twisting forms reaching towards the ceiling with happy heads lying next to them, partially smooshed from their fall.

    There's also another hut and a cow person standing off a little ways away. You walk up to the hut. A sign next to it says, _"AWARE OF DOG pleas pet dog"_. You cautiously walk over to the cow person.

    "A dog just rushed in here, filled with inspiration." the cow monster says, looking awed. "It kept trying to build a snowdog that expressed its own emotions. . . but as it built it kept getting more excited about sculpture. . . Its neck got longer and longer, and it added more and more snow until. . . It was rather sad to watch, but I couldn't turn away."

    Oh. Apparently that dog from earlier is still a tad overexcited. You look around at the failed snowdogs again. Even though it failed it kept trying. It reminds you of your own situation. You don't really feel like you're any closer to getting home, but you have to keep trying! Filled with determination you continue on down the path and hopefully to your exit.

    You don't get very far before you're faced with a huge swathe of ice. You see more of those 'x' markings and a button. You're not sure what this puzzle is supposed to do, and you really don't feel like sliding around on more ice, so you opt to follow the slopping path downwards. Unfortunately this path doesn't seem to lead anywhere except to two "snowmen". One is in the likeness of Papyrus, complete with cape, but there are some muscular arms in place of his. . . well, boney ones. The other one is. . . just a lump of snow that someone has written 'Sans' on in red. You look at the two works of "art" and can't stop yourself from giggling. You wonder when the two brothers made these. It's quite obvious who made which ones. Papyrus thinks so highly of himself and Sans never seems to want to do anything. Casting one last glance at the snowmen you heave a sigh and trek back up the path to the puzzle. Time to figure out what it does.

    You stare at it for a while. Obviously you have to turn them all to o's before pressing the button _and_ you have to find a way to _get_ to the button. You don't want to slide right over the edge and fall down. You've fallen down enough, thank you very much! When you think you've finally figure it out you take a careful step out onto the ice. You slide across each of the markings and eventually even onto the button! All the o's turn green and a snow bridge begins to extend from in front of you into the tall, thin trees ahead. It's really dark, but you step forward anyway.

    There seems to be ice hidden in here as you find yourself sliding through the trees. As you struggle for footing some snow falls on your head. Finally you exit out the other side of the small forest and you shake your head, brushing off any remaining snow. There are two paths ahead of you. One leads into a field full of little piles of snow and the other leads down. You begin to shiver. You're really staring to get cold after being out in the snow for so long. Not to mention how many times you've gotten covered in snow and frozen dirt. You hug your arms to yourself as you consider your options. You have to keep going. Hopefully you can find someplace warmer soon.


	4. Chapter 4

    You figure you'll start heading down. It seems no matter how many time you _think_ you're getting lower you somehow keep finding yourself stuck on tall cliffs. Maybe you _are_ going lower, but the Undergound is just reeeeaaaaally deep? You're not sure which thought is scarier. Not being able to tell which way you're going, or just going deeper and deeper under the ground? Before you can start to worry too much about all that you notice Sans standing ahead of you.

    "What's up?" he says as he smiles at you.

    "Am I going the right way?" you ask as you rub your arms in an effort to ward off the cold.

    "Depends on where you're going." he says with a shrug.

    "I want to go home." you say. He says nothing to that and you huff at him in annoyance before stomping off. Why is he being so difficult? You can feel his eyes following you as you turn away from (yet another) cliff edge and follow the snowy path. Then you notice it's not just _his_ eyes following you. There are holes in the wall you're walking next to and you can see glowing eyes blinking at you as you walk by. You try your best to ignore the many eyes and walk a little faster.

    Your heart sinks when you look up and see what looks like the end of the path. Not only that, but you see Sans as well. Seeing him annoys you. Why does nothing seem to go right?

    "Say. . . are you following me?" he asks as you briskly walk passed him. You don't bother giving him the dignity of a response and just keep going. _He's_ obviously following _you_ with his teleportation magic, you're sure of it. So you ignore him and whatever game he's playing. You reach the end of the path and look out over the edge and into the distance. Just a lot of trees and a house with it's lights on in the distance, that's all you can make out in the darkness below. How big _is_ this place?

    There's one more place to go before you turn back and explore that snow field. An entrance to a cave looms next to you. Maybe there's something useful in there? Taking a deep breath you steel yourself and step inside. It's much darker in this cave, but there are some strange, tiny lights flickering in the air. You try to touch one, but the simple movement of your arm seems to blow it away and it gives off an odd noise. Strange. You follow the path for a while before it finally opens up some more.

    Glowing mushrooms illuminate a large door. You begin to smile, there's a symbol on the door that looks like the ones from the Ruins! Maybe this is the exit you're looking for! You run up to the door and press against it. Nothing happens. Quickly you look around for a handle, or a lever, anything! There appears to be no mechanism to open the door with. Crestfallen you push up against the door, harder this time.

    "Come on! Please! Just open!" you call out as you dig your heels into the dirt and strain against the door. It remains tightly closed against all your efforts. You slide down and sit on the ground, leaning your head against the door. You feel tired. You feel _defeated_. Why did you bother getting your hopes up? This was just a dead end. You sit there for a while, watching the strange lights flit through the air. Eventually you get back on your feet and make your way out of the cave. There's nothing for you here and there's no use sitting around feeling sorry for yourself. You have to press onward.

    When you exit the cave Sans is still standing where you left him and he seems content to ignore you as you ignore him right back. You're so intent of ignoring him, in fact, that you almost walk right into another monster! This one looks like a deer who has trees for antlers and, somewhat disturbingly, a mouth that opens sideways.

    "Don't put any more on me!" it says as it huffs out steamy breaths of air at you.

    It sounds quite annoyed as it eyes you with suspicion. You continue to stare at the monster and note that a variety of decorations hang from its head. Something akin to barbed wire appears to be strung up in its antlers. How awful! Your soul shows itself and you give the monster a worried look before making up your mind. You reach up and do your best to untangle the mess from the creature's head. It pulls away from you at first, but then stills as it sees what you're doing.

    "That's a little better." it mutters as you examine the _pipe cleaners_ in your hands. Why would someone make barbed wire out of pipe cleaners and then wrap them around someone like this? You look at the monster again as it summons what looks like presents. One of which is blue. The presents begin to mix themselves up and then fly out at you. You dodge out of the way of the boxes, not even bothering to keep an eye on the blue one. You're sure you'd be fine if you stayed still for that one, but you don't really have the time to be watching for that particular one.

    The monster looks less irritated than it did before you took off the pipe cleaners so you decide to take off the other decorations too. A photo is taped to its head and you quickly snatch it off. The photo appears to be of two of those snowflake-bird monsters. One of which is wearing glasses and a bow tie. The deer-like monster blinks at you and you note that it appears to have a second set of tiny eyes at the base of its antlers as they blink at you too. Things just keep getting weirder down here.

    "That's a little better." You hear again as the monster stops snorting at you. You really feel bad for them and wonder why all this junk is piled on top of them. Your sympathy takes a break for a moment when you have to jump out of the way of another present attack. Jeez, you're trying to help! Why does it keep attacking you? As quick as you dodged you jump up and remove a candy cane from its antlers.

    "A weight has been lifted." the monster sighs and finally looks calm. It may look calm, but something about it still seems upset to you. Sad even. You want to cheer it up some. Looking down at your little pile of decorations you don't think they really want any of it back. Then you get an idea! You dig into your pocket and pull out a handful of coins. You've been gathering a lot of money since you came down here and so far the only use you've found for it was that bake sale, which you can't get back to, and buying ice cream, which seems silly here. Since you don't really need this money and it's been feeling pretty heavy in your pocket you decide to offer it to the monster.

    "Here, you can have this!" you say as you drop the coins in front of the monster.

    "Aw, you shouldn' have. . ." the monster says as it looks down and (you think) smiles at your gift.

    "It's no problem." you says with a smile in return before looking back down at the decorations in your arms. You notice there's a tiny note attached to the candy cane. _"I use this tiny cane to walk."_ it says. Huh. So it isn't a candy cane. Just a normal cane that some tiny monster is missing. You decide to leave the stuff in a pile on the ground. Whoever wants it back can come and get it, you figure. Then you wave goodbye to the deer monster and leave to head back on up the path.

    "You sure do like exercise." Sans comments as you pass by him _again_.

    "Not everyone can just _appear_ places." you mutter and you hear him chuckle.

    Back up the path you once more find yourself staring out across a field filled with piles of snow. Maybe that dog from earlier was trying to make more snowdogs, but never even got to the point of actually sculpting anything before getting too excited and starting the next one? Or maybe there are just a bunch of rocks in this field that got covered by the snow? Where does the snow come from anyway? There can't be any precipitation down here. . . Whatever! You decide not to think too hard about it and just start walking. Besides the mysterious piles made out of mysterious snow there's also a tiny doghouse with a sign. The sign simply says, _"(Woof.)"_. There sure do seem to be a lot of dogs in this place you note as you keep walking.

    As you walk something glints and catches your eye. Upon closer inspection you find a bunch of coins stuffed into one of the piles of snow. It seems like nearly the same amount you gave that deer monster back there! How fortuitous for you! Almost like it was meant to be. You figure you might as well pocket the coins. If you found a bunch of them like this then that might just be a sign you'll need the money. After stowing away the cash in your pocket you make your way over towards the path leading further into this winter wonderland. You pass by the last snow pile and something pops out of it! You stop and stare at the long, white tail. Then, out from the other end, a furry head pops out. There appears to be a dog covered in snow here. It gives you two cute barks and begins to shake the snow off.

    Your face falls as you watch the dog rise up from the ground, snow falling off of its armor. It towers over you, holding a spear. It's absolutely _huge_! Your soul appears and the dog begins to wag its tail. You stand there for a moment as the two of you stare at each other, the dog panting and you clutching your stick to your chest. It. . . doesn't look hostile?

    "H-hey boy, you want a pet?" you ask as you wave your hand. The dog bounds toward you, closing the small gap between you rather quickly. It's so excited that it flicks slobber into your face and waves its spear around. It flashes blue and that throws you off so you jump out of the way while it's still blue. It hurts and you wince at the pain. You'll take note that you do indeed take damage if you move while things are blue. Good to know.

    The dog doesn't seem to notice your pain and wiggles eagerly. You reach out and pet the top of its tiny head as it bends down to meet you. It looks quite pleased and suddenly it forces its entire, crushing weight on top of you. With a yelp you fall on your butt and the dog curls up in your lap as best as it can in its huge armor. It seems to have. . . fallen asleep? Oh god, you hope not, it's so heavy! You don't think you can last underneath it for much longer!

    Luckily the dog suddenly snaps its head up and begins bouncing around, once more brandishing a flashing spear. You do better at actually avoiding damage this time. The dog pants and gets down on all fours, patting the ground with its front paws. It looks like it wants to play.

    "O.K., O.K." you say as you bend down and scoop up some snow. You pat it into a nice ball and hold it up. "Go fetch!" you cry out as you toss the snowball. It sails through the air before splattering on the ground. The dog runs over to where it landed and sniffs at the spot before starting to scoop up _all_ the snow in the area. It just scoops it up into its arms and then deposits the snow in front of you. You stare at the large pile.

    "Uh. . . G-good job." you say. The dog seems pleased with your praise and rests its head on top of yours. You give a little giggle and reach up to pet it again. Uh-oh, that might have been a mistake as it sinks its entire weight onto you again. Your knees shake a little, but you don't fall down this time. You pet the dog decisively and it rolls off of you to flop on the ground, dangling its legs in the air. You give its armored belly a good pat. Then it stands up again.

    Once it's back on two legs it suddenly jumps out of its armor, revealing itself to just be a small dog in very big armor. It licks your face before jumping back into the armor, tail hanging out where its head should be. Then it turns and marches off with clanging steps. Oh. O.K. then. That was interesting. You wipe your face of dog spit. After you face is relatively clean once more you and walk after the dog in the direction it left. You don't see where it disappeared to, but you do see a bridge ahead of you.

    It is a very long bridge and you can just make out two figures in the distance and what looks like rooftops behind them. You can guess who those figures might be. You start walking. As you go you notice how _very_ high up you are. Way down below you can see a sprawling forest and once more you wonder just how _big_ this place is. You also wonder if there are any more secure ways to get around other than cliffsides and bridges. As you get further along the bridge you can see Sans and Papyrus more clearly. When you get about halfway across Papyrus calls out to you.

    "Human! This is your final and most dangerous challenge! Behold! The Gauntlet of Deadly Terror!"

    You stop where you are and watch as a large flame thrower, blade, and cannon rise from below and a spiky ball, another blade, and (strangely enough) a dog attached to a rope lower from above. You're. . . not quite sure where any of this stuff is coming from, but you know that you don't want to deal with any of it.

    "When I say the word it will fully activate!!!" Papyrus proclaims. "Cannons will fire! Spikes will swing! Blades will slice! Each part will swing violently up and down! Only the tiniest chance of victory will remain!!! Are you ready?! Because! I! Am! About! To do it!"

    The three of you stand still and stare at each other across the bridge. You eye the many deadly things ahead of you. Nothing moves.

    "Well? What's the holdup?" Sans eventually asks, turning to his brother.

    "Holdup?! What holdup?! I'm. . . I'm about to activate it now!" Papyrus assures him. The three of you continue to stand around in silence for a moment.

    "That, uh, doesn't look very activated." Sans says when nothing happens.

    "WELL!!! This challenge!!! It seems. . . maybe. . . too easy to defeat the human with. Yeah! We can't use this one!!! I am a skeleton with standards!!! My puzzles are very fair and my traps expertly cooked, but this method is too direct! No class at all! Away it goes!" Papyrus says before waving his hand in the air and the traps receding back to wherever they came from. You have to admit, for a moment you were actually worried there.

    Papyrus quickly turns away from you and gives a loud, "Phew!" before turning back to glare at you and say, "What are you looking at?! This was another decisive victory for Papyrus!! Nyeh!! Heh!! . . . Heh???"

    He looks a tad confused and then walks off. You watch him disappear into the distance before walking across the rest of the bridge.

    "I don't know what my brother's going to do now. If I were you I would make sure I understand _blue attacks_." Sans says as you walk pass him. You don't bother looking at him and just keep walking. Does he think Papyrus is actually going to fight you soon? You hope not. You're really beginning to like him and he seems fun. Though his warning does have some merit. You've been running into more and more of these blue attacks lately. You're fairly confident you understand how they work now so you better not forget before someone messes you up with them.

    As you keep walking the rooftops you saw earlier are now buildings peeking out from within the trees. You pass by a large sign decorated with colored lights welcoming you to Snowdin. You stop to look at the sign and notice that the 'o' in "Snowdin" is drawn like the head of a snowman. You can't help but smile as you start walking again. Warm lights shine from windows and you can see a variety of monsters milling around. None of them seem upset by your presence and you can't help but feel a friendly atmosphere in the town. It makes you feel a little better as you begin to shiver from the cold. Hopefully these buildings are as warm as they look. You're determined not to end up like a human-popsicle.

    The nearest building has a sign over the door labeling it a shop. You push open the door and a little bell rings. A rabbit lady looks up from the counter as you step inside.

    "Hello, traveler. How can I help you?" she greets you as you quickly shut the door behind you.

    "I was, uh, just getting out of the cold." you say as you watch her.

    "Care to chat?" she asks as she folds her arms over her chest and stands up a bit straighter.

    "Oh, um, sure. Hello." you say, managing to smile at her.

    "Hiya! Welcome to Snowdin! I can't remember the last time I saw a fresh face around here," she says, returning the smile. "Where did you come from? The capital? You don't look like a tourist. Are you here by yourself?"

    "I'm. . . just passing through," you say. "Can you tell me about this place? What's a town doing here?"

    "Think back to your history class," she says with a sigh. "A long time ago monsters lived in the Ruins back in the forest. Long story short, we all decided to leave the Ruins and head for the end of the caverns. Along the way some fuzzy folk decided they liked the cold and set up camp in Snowdin. Oh, and don't think about trying to explore the Ruins. . . The door's been locked for ages. So unless you're a ghost or can burrow under the door forget about it."

    You can't help but blink at her. You _came_ from the Ruins, but they've been locked? It sounds like it's been years too. Does anyone even know about Toriel? She must have been in there since it was locked up, right? Why is the door locked? Did Toriel do that and if so. . . why? You figure it's best not to ask the shopkeeper any of those questions. She'll probably get suspicious if you do. Instead you settle on small talk.

    "Well, is it nice living in Snowdin?"

    "Life is the same as usual. A little claustrophobic. . . but. . . we all know deep down that freedom is coming, don't we? As long as we got that hope we can grit our teeth and face the same struggles day after day. . . That's life, ain't it?" she says, giving you a tired smile.

    Freedom. . . Suddenly your mind flashes back to that book you glanced through back at Toriel's. It said the monsters were trapped behind some kind of barrier. Is that what she means? They're all still trapped down here and are just hoping for the day they can escape? If that's the case then does that mean you're _just as_ trapped now? No, that can't be right. The way Toriel bid you farewell she made it seem like there _was_ some way for you to get back home. Maybe since you're not a monster the barrier doesn't work on you? The rabbit lady is beginning to eye you as you stand there thinking to yourself. You better say something, quick!

    "So, uh, what is there to do here?" you ask.

    "You want to know what to do here in Snowdin?" she replies before glancing up at the ceiling and tapping her arm in thought. "Grillby's has food and the library has information. . . If you're tired you can take a nap at the inn. It's right next door, my sister runs it, and if you're bored you can sit outside and watch those wacky skeletons do their thing. There's two of 'em. . . Brothers, I think. They just showed up one day and. . . asserted themselves. The town has gotten a lot more interesting since then."

    It seems Sans and Papyrus are well known. You wonder what it must be like to live in a place where the primary source of entertainment is watching two people just "do their thing". You're not sure if that says more about the town or the brothers.

    You feel weird about standing around in the store with no intention of buying anything and you've warmed up quite a lot while chatting to the saleswoman so you figure it's time to take your leave.

    "Well, thanks for the information." you say as you turn back to the door and wave goodbye.

    "Bye now! Come again some time!" she calls out as you open the door and make your exit.

    It's still pretty cold outside and you quickly wrap your arms around yourself. There appears to be another building connected to the shop. The sign above its door reads, _"INN"_. The lady you were just talking to said her sister runs the place. You've been walking for a long time, maybe a nap would do you some good. As you make your way over you spy another box. You stop for a moment to peek inside. All that's inside is a pink glove. So that sign from earlier had been right. All these boxes are magically connected. Closing the box you make your way to the door of the inn and push it open. There's not much inside. Just a red couch along the wall, a front desk with what must be the shopkeeper's sister behind it, and a set of stairs going up. You walk up to the desk.

    "Welcome to Snowed Inn! Snowdin's premier hotel! One night is 80g." the lady says brightly.

    Oh. You're not sure if you feel like paying that much. You're not quite sure how much money you _do_ have, but now that you're in an actual town you feel like having money is going to be more of an issue. You shake your head at the bunny lady.

    "No thank you. I was just, uh, looking around." you say.

    "Well, feel free to come back any time." she replies with a smile.

    "Mom says sleeping recovers your health." says a smaller rabbit at her side.

    "I'm fine, thanks." you say before turning and leaving. You don't need to actually take a nap. Just a rest for a little bit somewhere. If you can find some place to sit where you won't feel weird you'll be fine. So far things aren't so bad. No one has sounded an alarm that a human is walking around. You just don't want to mill around inside a store or an inn by yourself with no intentions of paying for services. You feel like the bunny ladies might get annoyed if you do that.

    Back out in the town you continue your trek. You spy what looks like an igloo and stop to read the sign posted next to it. _"(Don't want to walk to the other side of town?) (Try the undersnow tunnels!) (They're efficiently laid out.)"_ it says. Hm, the igloo must be an entrance to the tunnels. They must be special walkways that don't follow streets or buildings so they are quicker. You'll have to check them out once you're done exploring up here.

    As you walk away from the igloo you pass by another rabbit person standing on the front step of their house.

    "That lady over there. . . Something about her disturbs me." they mutter to themselves and you stop to follow their gaze. They're watching yet _another_ bunny person (this town sure seems to have a lot of them) walking a tiny bunny on a leash. Oh. She has a pet rabbit while _she's_ a rabbit? Yeah, that's a little weird.

    "I think I've figured it out. . . No, never mind." you hear the first bunny person sigh.

    You look back and watch as they shake their head and continue to puzzle over what's bothering them. You figure you'll leave them alone. It might just get really weird if you tell them why you suspect they're disturbed. Instead you walk over to the strange bunny lady.

    "Isn't my little Cinnamon just the cutest?" she asks you with a cheery smile. "Bun-buns are so adorable. . . Tee hee! Bun-bun-bun-bun-bun. . ."

    Uh. . . Yeah, you're going to leave her alone too. You were thinking about asking her about her pet, but on second thought it's probably for the best if you just leave well enough alone. She can coo over her "bun-bun" and you'll just carry on your way. Yep, just keep walking.

    Besides, there's something much more interesting up ahead. A Christmas tree. You can't help but let your mouth hang open a little bit as you jog over to it. It's beautifully decorated, complete with star on top and presents underneath! Some of the presents even are labelled from Santa! A couple monsters are standing around the tree and a white bear comes up and kneels down to deposit a gift.

    "Um. . . Wh-what's all this?" you ask them as they scoot the wrapped box under the branches. It's not Christmas time, so what is with all the presents and decorations?

    "Awful teens tormented a local monster by decorating its tree-like horns. So we started giving that monster presents to make it feel better. Now it's tradition to put presents underneath a decorated tree. Guess it was a good thing those teens tormented that monster. . .?" the bear explains as it strokes its chin thoughtfully.

    Oh, so that's what was going on with that deer monster from earlier. Also you apparently participated in a local tradition by giving it some of your money. Weird. Almost as weird as a town somehow making Christmas without actually having Christmas. Though you're not sure where Santa fits into all of this. . . Maybe there just happens to be a monster down here named Santa? It wouldn't surprise you at this point. As you stand there looking at the tree and presents another monster walks up to you.

    "Yo! You're a kid too, right? I can tell 'cause you're wearing a striped shirt." they say with a big, goofy smile. You look down at your blue and purple striped shirt and then at this monster's own yellow and brown striped one. You notice they don't have any arms.

    "Um, yeah, I'm a kid." you reply.

    "I wonder if that weird skeleton is an adult or a kid." they muse out loud to themselves. You hadn't actually thought about it yourself, but now you're wondering how old Sans and Papyrus are. You also wonder if it's a thing among monsters that kids wear striped shirts. It's not really a thing back home. Your dad wears striped shirts all the time. Thinking about him makes your chest clench a little. You quickly turn away from the tree and keep walking.

    You need to find your way out of here. You need to find your way back home. Maybe someone here can help you? So far no one in this town has attacked you. If you can just find some sort of authority figure. . . Someone who isn't a guard dog! You walk up to another bear standing in front of that Grillby's place the shopkeeper mentioned.

    "Um, excuse me. Who's in charge here? Like, the mayor, or someone?" you ask them.

    "This town doesn't have a mayor, but if there's ever a problem a skeleton will tell a fish lady about it. Thaaaaaat's politics!" they inform you. You blink at them. "Politics." the bear repeats with a curt nod. O.K. That wasn't very helpful.

    You don't think anyone involved with those skeletons is going to be much help to you. Sans was supposed to be on watch for humans, but he was too lazy to bother to do anything about you and Papyrus wants to capture you, he's just very bad at it. If they report to whoever is supposedly in charge then you don't want anything to do with them. Being captured is the exact opposite of what you want. So there goes that idea. Looks like it's back to you finding your own way out.

    You figure you'll keep walking through the town rather than enter Grillby's for now. It might be a good place to sit down, since it looks like a diner or something, but you think you should explore the town a little more before you take your rest. On the other side of Grillby's you spy two monsters bundled up against the cold. You overhear their conversation as you walk pass them.

    "Everyone is always laughing and cracking jokes, trying to forget our modern crises. . . Dreariness. Crowding. Lack of sunlight." the pink, mouse-like monster sighs.

    "We all know the Underground has problems, but we smile anyway. Why? We can't do anything about it, so why be morose about it?" their horned friend says.

    "I would join them, but I'm just not very funny. At least I'm not making puns." the first one says, heaving another sigh.

    "Smile smile." the horned one encourages.

    The path splits in two and you follow the left path as you ponder over what you just heard. You remember what the shopkeeper had told you when you asked if she liked living here. It sounds like all the monsters as a whole are having a horrible time living down here, but they put on happy faces and brave the challenges in the hope that someday they'll be freed. It's all really sad. Is it humanity's fault? You're pretty sure it's humans that trapped them down here. Now you're wishing you had read that history book more closely. If humans are the cause for monsters being underground then is that why Toriel thought they'd kill you? To get revenge? You're starting to feel scared again.

    "Let's play Monsters and Humans!"

    You look up and notice what you assume to be a family of slimes playing in the snow.

    "You aren't going to make me be the human again, are you?"

    You stop to watch the two small ones run around the snowy yard while a larger one with a mustaches sits by the house.

    "Ah, to be young again. The world sure felt boundless." he chuckles to himself as he watches the children play. Even in their games humans are the bad guys. You turn away and keep walking, hoping they don't notice you. You hear a splashing sound and follow the noise.

    There's a fenced in area with what looks like a small tower on the other side. As you walk up you notice a conveyor belt coming out of the tower structure and a large, muscular wolf standing at the end of it. You stop and watch as a large block of ice comes out of the tower, rides along the conveyor belt, and is picked up by the wolf. They hoist the ice above their head and then turn to chuck it into the river running nearby. It splashes into the water and the current sweeps it away as the wolf turns back to wait for the next block of ice.

    You're not sure what the purpose of any of this is, but you feel too intimidated to ask the wolf what it's doing, so you just turn around and keep walking. Unfortunately you don't get very far because the path ends just further up the river that the wolf was throwing ice into. Since there seems to be nothing more up here you turn around and head back to the center of town to take the other path.

    Once you get there you pass by the library (and you have to stop and do a double-take when you notice the sign actually says "LIBRARBY") and the last actual building you can see this way is a rather large house. It's decorated with colored lights and you notice a Jolly Roger flying from the roof. You wonder who lives in such a nice house. As you approach it you notice two sets of mailboxes. One is absolutely _stuffed_ with unopened mail and from a glance you can see most of it is just junk mail. They other mailbox is much more tidy and has "PAPYRUS" written on the side. Well, that answers you lives in this house. There's also a shed and another igloo. That must be the other side of the tunnels so this really is the edge of town. Since you've seen all there is to see of this town without walking up and knocking on the doors of people's homes you decide to head on back to Grillby's. Hopefully you can sit down for a bit while you warm up without looking too out of place.

    When you push open the door and enter the establishment you are hit with a warm toasty-ness you didn't feel in the store or inn. The place is filled with patrons and you spy a bartender literally made out of fire. You suppose that would account for why it's warmer in here. You notice that you recognize half the room. Taking up two tables are all the guard dogs you've run into on your way here. They all seem to be playing cards. You walk up to them.

    "You better watch where you sit down here, kid, because that big guy _will_ jump into your lap and give you lots of love and attention." says one of the axe wielding dogs as he throws a free paw over at the dog in large armor, who has righted himself so his head pokes out of the neck-hole again. As you look at them the armored dog give a happy little bark and tilts its head. You smile.

    "We're sentries, but we never get any respect. I wish those skeletons would throw us a bone. We love bones." the female dog sighs to herself.

    "I'm thinking of getting a spiked collar to show off my personality. It makes a statement like. . . 'Attach a leash to me and take me for a walk please'." the first dog you met announces from their end of the table. The conversation among the dogs then goes into happy barking about bones and walks. You step away from the table and leave them be. A table behind them you see the excitable dog has finally calmed down since your petting and its snowdog building adventure and seems to be playing a quiet game of cards by itself instead of joining the others. It doesn't seem to be doing very well as you notice it drop a couple of its cards on the floor.

    You make your way over to the other side of the room, where the booths are. A bunny person is surrounded by empty glasses and bottles. They look a little sick.

    "Are you O.K.?" you ask them as you peek into their booth.

    "No matter where I go it's the same menu, the same people. . . Help! I want new drinks an' h-h-h-hot guys!!!!" they say between hiccups. Then they loll their head to the side to glance back at the bar. "I guess the bartender's kind of h-h-h-hot. . ."

    You don't think you can offer much help to them so you walk over to the next booth. Inside sits a rather strange looking monster whose entire heads seems to be nothing but teeth. Seeing those large fangs worries you a bit.

    "I'd like to try some new food too." they say as you walk up. They must have overhead the bunny's complaints. "Hmm. . . Isn't human food different from monster food? It does things like 'spoil' and when you eat it, it passes all the way through your whole body. Disgusting. I'd love to try it some time."

    You blink at the monster. So monster food doesn't spoil? Or need to be digested? Monsters sure are strange. You wonder if it's O.K. for you to eat monster food. Was that pie Toriel made for you weird monster food? You haven't felt funny since eating it if it was, so maybe it's no big deal?

    "And I've heard they have things called bathrooms." the toothy monster continues to muse to themselves.

    "Humans sure are weird, haha." you nervously chuckle before quickly walking away. Since no one but Toriel and Sans seems to have recognized you as human you plan on keeping it that way for as long as possible. You make your way over to the bar and overhear two other patrons having a conversation.

    "I 'put out a line' for some girls today. Someone told me that there are plenty of fish in the sea. . . Well, I'm taking that seriously. I'm literally going to make-out with a fish. I guess I could ask out Undyne, but I think she likes someone already." says a fish monster that you now remember seeing a photo of attached to a hook. That answers that mystery then.

    "Those dogs are part of the Royal Guard, the elite military group led by Undyne," his bird friend replies. "She's rude, loud, and beats up everybody who gets in her way. . . It's no wonder all the kids want to be like her when they grow up! I want to be like Undyne when I grow up too! hoo hoo hoo!"

    Papyrus mentioned someone called Undyne earlier, you recall. Apparently she leads all these dog monsters? Wait, is she the "fish lady" that bear was talking about earlier? She seem to be in a position of authority and Papyrus knows about her so she might be who he'd report "problems" to. Hearing how she's rude and mean doesn't endear you to her any more than you previously were.

    You gulp down your sudden nerves as you step up to the bar. The fire man silently cleans a glass and you can't really tell if he's looking at you or not since his face is, well, fire. You stand there for a moment, wondering if you should ask him something. As the silence continues the bird lady looks away from her fish friend and at you.

    "Grillbz said he'd offer you a glass of water, but he doesn't touch the stuff." she says to you. You blink at her and then back at who must be Grillby. He's still cleaning his glassware. Does he talk in a special fire language? Then you blink again suddenly understanding the joke that was just told and you let out a quick breath of laughter.

    "It's fine, I just wanted to sit down for a bit." you say as you crawl up onto a bar stool. Grillby doesn't shoo you away once you've settled so you take that as a good sign. You find that the bar stool has a swivel seat and after a quick glance around you allow yourself a moment of indulgence and do a little spin. You catch yourself on the bar to stop yourself from spinning multiple times and getting dizzy. No one seems to mind so you relax a little more and smile. Remembering your warning when you came in you glance over your shoulder and find all the dogs are too preoccupied at the moment to pay any attention to you, so you're currently safe from being crushed under the big one.

    You slowly turn and take in everything. It's warm and mellow. Monsters are enjoying their drinks and meals while talking to each other. There's a neon sign spelling out the name of the place with a jukebox underneath it in the corner, but no music is currently playing. Just the murmurs of conversations and the clinking of dishes. Your eyelids feel heavy as you swing one leg absentmindedly. You haven't felt this calm since walking into Toriel's house. This is different, though. With Toriel it felt like a dollhouse. Everything tidy and perfect, a haven among the unknown. Here, though, it feels. . . more alive. You can smell the greasy food and hear the occasional laughter. You think about putting your stick up on the bar and laying your head down for a moment, but then disregard the idea. That might annoy Grillby, since he's standing right there. You suppose you were more tired than you thought, but you can handle it.

    Some sort of horse person has been watching you since you sat down at the bar. They lower their shades as they finally speak to you saying, "The capital's getting pretty crowded, so I've heard they're going to start moving here." They look you up and down before sliding their sunglasses back in place and continuing, "Hmmm. . . I don't want to see the erasure of our local culture, but I definitely want to see some city slickers slip onto their butts! Yeah, bring 'em on!"

    "I _have_ been slipping on a lot of ice. . ." you say with a nervous smile. You'll just keep letting people think you're from the capital, whatever that is. Better than revealing yourself as a human for now. Strange how it's not obvious to most of the monsters. . . Maybe they've just been trapped underground for so long that they've forgotten what humans look like?

    You sit there for a while longer with no one bothering you. You even close your eyes and just listen to the sounds for a bit. Eventually, though, you figure you should get a move on again. You've been off your feet long enough so they aren't uncomfortable anymore. Slipping off the stool you make your exit. You hunch up against the blast of cold that hits your face when you open the door. Amazing how the comfort of Grillby's made you forget about how cold it still is outside.

    You start walking through the snow, figuring you'll head on out of town and continue through whatever lays beyond. When you get close to the library, however, you stop. You've been getting more curious about the relations between humans and monsters. Maybe you can find a copy of that history book Toriel had in there? Making up your mind you step up to the door and walk inside. A green, bespectacled monsters stand behind the front desk as you enter.

    "Welcome to the library. Yes, we know. The sign is misspelled." they inform you. You nod to them and keep walking. There's plenty of shelves of books and a little sitting area. A few monsters are sat around a table. They all seem busy with something. You walk up to peek at what they're doing. Newspapers and normal paper are scattered around in front of them. Another Mike Wazowski looking monsters looks up at you as you peer over the table.

    "That look in your eye. . . You're someone who has difficulty with crosswords, aren't you?" they say with a cheeky smile.

    "No, I don't. I mean, sometimes, maybe. I like word-searches more." you reply as you rub the back of your head.

    Another monster at the table smoking a cigarette gives a couple of coughs and says, "When I was younger, my teachers gave me word-searches when they ran out of assignments. I thought they were a waste of time, but look at me now. . . I'm the number-one word-search creator in the entire Underground!"

    "I love working on the newspaper. There's so little to report that we just fill it with comics and games." the last monster adds with a smile. So these guys must be the newspaper team for the Underground. Despite what this last one just said you think it would probably be for the best if you didn't distract them from trying to work. You duck away from the table and go to peruse the shelves of books. You're not really sure where to start looking so you just pick a book that appears promising.

     _"Love, hope, compassion. . . This is what people say monster souls are made of, but the absolute nature of "soul" is unknown. After all, humans have proven their souls don't need these things to exist."_

    Interesting, but not what you're looking for. You put the book back on the shelf and continue looking.

     _"Monster History Part 4"_ Now that sound more like what you're after! You open the book and begin to read. _"Fearing humans no longer we moved out of our old city, Home. We braved harsh cold, damp swampland, and searing heat. . . Until we reached what we now call our capital, 'New Home'. Again, our King is really bad at names. . . ?"_

    No, this book seems to talk about stuff that happened _after_ the barrier. You want to know more about when the barrier was made and all the stuff leading up to it. You slip it back among the other books and move on to another shelf. You pick a new book and flip to the middle.

     _"Because they are made out of magic monsters' bodies are attuned to their soul. If a monster doesn't want to fight its defenses will weaken and the crueler the intentions of our enemies the more their attacks will hurt us. Therefore, if a being with a powerful soul struck with the desire to kill. . . Um, let's end the chapter here. . ."_

    Well, you're certainly learning more about souls and magic, but it's still not exactly what you want. Then again, it would probably be a good thing to keep this stuff in mind since you've been entering a lot of fights and seeing your own soul recently. It's still such a strange thing to have a physical representation of your soul. You've been experiencing so many strange things since you fell down that hole. It's like you're Alice in Wonderland. Maybe you'll wake up to find this is all a crazy dream. You're not sure if that's preferable or not. . . Moving on you pick up a smaller book and begin to read it.

     _"(Here I am. . . Writing this book.) (A person comes in a picks up the book. . .) (They start reading it. . .!)"_ The rest of the pages are blank. . .

    "Oh, sorry. I'm still writing that one." calls the yellow monster from the table. You look over at her and then at the book in your hands. Why would someone put an unfinished book on the shelf of the library? Maybe that's just another weird thing about monsters? They put up unfinished works? You shake your head and return the strange draft to the shelf. On to the next book!

     _"While monsters are mostly made of magic humans beings are mostly made of water."_ Oh hey, this one mentions humans! _"Humans, with their physical forms, are far stronger than us, but they will never know the joy of expressing themselves through magic. They'll never get a bullet-pattern birthday card. . ."_

    Hm, no, this one just talks about more magic stuff. Nothing about how humans trapped monsters or if humans are considered evil. Though it's interesting that humans are considered stronger. Maybe that's how the humans were able to shove all the monsters under the ground? You do feel a little jealous that you can't summon magical attacks like the monsters can, though.

    The last set of shelves seems to be for magazines and papers rather than full books. You don't think you'll bother looking at any of them, but one catches your eye, _"Monster Funerals"_. Your curiosity gets the better of you and you pick up what looks like a school report.

     _"Monster funerals, technically speaking, are cool as heck. When monsters get old and kick the bucket they turn to dust. At funerals we take that dust and spread it on that person's favorite thing. Then their essence will live on in that thing. . . Uhhh, am I at the page minimum yet? I'm kinda sick of writing this."_

    Monsters really _do_ have low standards for what they'll publish in their library, it seems. You wonder what grade the monster who wrote this got. Still, even if it wasn't that well written it was interesting to learn. Monsters don't leave bodies behind when they die. Must be that whole "lack of physicality" thing.

    Well, you didn't learn exactly what you wanted to, but you gained some interesting knowledge about monsters anyway. Since you can't seem to find what you're looking for and you don't feel comfortable asking the librarian for help you figure you might as well leave to continue your journey. You exit the building and make your way to the edge of town. A fog hangs in the air as you leave Snowdin behind. You begin to shiver. The fog just gets thicker and thicker with each step you take. You slow down as it gets harder to see where you're going. You just have to keep walking, this fog can't last forever! Then you see a figure up ahead. You can't quite make it out, but you're certain it's not a tree. You stop where you are.

    "Human." you hear Papyrus call out to you. "Allow me to tell you about some complex feelings. Feelings like. . . the joy of finding another pasta lover. The admiration of another's puzzle solving skills. The desire to have a cool, smart person think you are cool."

    Is Papyrus going to tell you he doesn't want to capture you anymore? That he'd rather be friends? You start to smile with hope.

    "These feelings. . . they must be what you are feeling right now!!!"

    . . . What?

    "I can hardly imagine what it must be like to feel that way. After all, I am very great. I don't ever wonder what having lots of friends it like. I pity you. . . lonely human. . ."

    Is he being serious?

    "Worry not!!! You shall be lonely no longer! I, the Great Papyrus, will be your. . ."

    You see the figure suddenly turn around.

    "No. . . No, this is all wrong! I can't be your friend!!!" Papyrus sounds so conflicted before turning back to you. "You are a human! I must capture you!!! Then I can fulfill my lifelong dream!!! Powerful! Popular! Prestigious!!! That's Papyrus!!! The newest member. . . of the Royal Guard!"

    With that triumphant cry Papyrus leaps forward and your soul flickers in front of you.


End file.
